MASSACHUSETTS
The Sun Chronicle
Let’s talk about sexual abuse of children.
You’d rather not, you say? It’s too sensitive an issue, too hard to talk about.
How about when you talked with your own children about it. Was it difficult then?
You never did talk to the kids about it? Oh…
April is Child Sexual Abuse Protection Month. Newspapers often participate in such promotions by promoting a community-wide dialog. But, as alluded to above, as deeply as the community obviously cares about the safety of children, child sex abuse is not a conversation starter. That’s not to suggest that Sun Chronicle readers haven’t talked about child sex abuse. Twenty years ago next month when it came to light that James R. Porter, a defrocked priest, had sexually abused dozens of youngsters while assigned to North Attleboro in the early 1960s. Many other incidents, though less notorious, have made headlines in the interim. Indeed, we observe regretfully that child sex abuse has never been far from the headlines – just a little over a week ago our front page reported 32 Massachusetts men, including two area residents, had been arrested in a crackdown on an Internet child pornography ring.
The anger following these incidents is palpable. It usually results in pressure on child service and law and order agencies to do something about it. And when the anger passes, the average citizen is no better prepared to talk about child sex abuse than before – what questions, for instance, to ask a child who you might suspect is being abused, or how to talk to your own children about their dealings with adults.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.