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Madison Police Department - Safety Education Program

Unintended Consequences of Doing Child Abuse Prevention Education

The argument that you must teach a child what sexual/physical abuse is, and what it looks like in order to teach them how to prevent it, is a point of disagreement among experts in the field.

From the legal system's perspective, what is taught in the classroom can be called into question in court to challenge a victim's credibility and make the claim that the child created the charge, and the specific action or words was from information that was disseminated in the classroom. The defense attorney may claim the incident didn't happen in reality and the child is lying, trying to "get back" at the person who is being charged for some slight or other.

It is important to teach the proper names of body parts as part of health education. But children who are physically or sexually abused understand the more general references to being hurt on purpose or touching that feels uncomfortable, confusing or upsetting. Children who have not been victimized do not need to be exposed to material that's too graphic or explicit for two reasons, 1) it may create fear where there was none and may be a violation of SS 115.367; 2) it may put ideas into their heads about "how to" abuse others, particularly other children. It may teach them how to be offenders instead of it being offender-prevention training.

An increase in general paranoia about touching any child in any way on the part of adult caregivers is another problem. There needs to be more emphasis on the importance of nurturing physical touching as a basic human need. Adults need to be reassured that it is okay, even necessary, to continue nurturing physical contacts with all children who wish it as a way of affirming children, reassuring, and rewarding them. Adults need to be reminded that children will set limits they're comfortable with if they are given permission to express their feelings and act when they feel uncomfortable.

A child can tell instantly when touching is comforting, when it is disciplinary, when it is exploitative, or even dangerous.

We need to focus on individual responsibilities as well as individual rights. This lack of balancing messages may be contributing to an increase in reporting of illegal touching incidents without dealing with the offender-prevention issue. We must tell students what the law requires in terms of their behavior and the consequences possible if they get involved in sexual touching that the student may consider "playing" or just "picking on" another student.

Law enforcement personnel have begun to see an increase in false reporting of sexual assault by older teens and young adults as a way of "getting even," & "getting back at", or "getting out of" taking responsibility for their own behavior.

Parental concern about intrusive questioning concerning family interactions, or alcohol and drug use patterns, is another issue. If we "survey" children, asking them to reveal patterns of substance use/abuse or physically or sexually abusive behavior in their homes, that may be seen as extremely intrusive and may even be considered "putting ideas in their heads."

We must instead constantly empower children to ask for help if and when they need it, reassure them that their feelings are valid and it is okay to talk about feelings, or any problem children may have that they have been unable to deal with themselves.

Teaching children to "Just Say No" is an oversimplification. It may create guilt in someone who has already experienced victimization, and who was unable to say no, or for whom saying no did not work. This message without a counterbalancing empowerment focus (okay - that did not work, what else could you try?), may reinforce "learned helplessness" and further erode the victim's self-esteem. We must avoid further victimizing or blaming the victims!

Some other concerns include adaptation for Early Childhood and other special needs groups. Can we balance the need for concrete specific "rules" needed by those children, with the concern that those very "rules" may cause complications later? (e.g. "stranger danger" or "don't talk to strangers" creating an unreasonable fear of every person unknown to the child. The child may believe they can't ask someone they don't know for help and the child becomes even more vulnerable.)

Is protective behavior-type education a program? Is one presentation of the information enough? Every teacher knows that learning concepts and building skills is an ongoing, long-term process. Learning takes place at different rates and in different ways for each individual. Learning protective behaviors, abuse prevention empowerment skills and strategies, is no different than learning to read or to be proficient in math. These concepts are learned best when they are reinforced regularly, through both program and process. Creating an atmosphere where children generally feel safe and reinforcing protective behaviors in "teachable moments" will be most effective.

The list of unintended consequences and concerns grows as we all learn more about this extremely complex issue.

Protective Behaviors Incorporated and Madison Metropolitan School District's Student Anti-Victimization Education (S.A.V.E.) themes and strategies may prevent some of the above mentioned unintended consequences of doing child abuse prevention education. Training children to use this self-protective process in all areas of their lives will give them self-renewable resources for decision-making in any number of difficult situations. It may intervene in the internalization of victim attitudes of "learned helplessness" and low self-esteem which are often a result of living in an abusive environment. It may interrupt the "cycle of violence" and even reduce suicides and other self-destructive behaviors.

Created for MMSD's S.A.V.E. Committee

Natalie Aikins, Police Officer
Safety Education Unit
Madison Police Department
(608) 266-4483