IDAHO
Idaho Press-Tribune
By MIKE BUTTS mbutts@idahopress.com
TREASURE VALLEY — Shocking stories about child sexual abuse at the hands of youth service professionals made national headlines in recent months.
The stories left people wondering how such incidents can happen with trusted adults.
The fact is sexual abuse of children is so prevalent that the “Enough Abuse Campaign” of Massachusetts claims “each of us probably knows someone who has been victimized or who has abused.”
Officials with the campaign call child sex abuse a “silent and violent epidemic.”
Child advocates in the Treasure Valley say knowledge, procedures and attitudes about child sexual abuse can go a long way toward protecting kids from assaults that can leave them with life-long emotional scars.
When a child is sexually abused, its impact is so strong it damages the entire community, Idaho Children’s Trust Fund Program Developer Wickes MacColl said.
Part of the challenge of preventing child sex abuse comes from the low incidents of reporting of the crime and the stigma associated with it. Victims are threatened by offenders not to report incidents and adults are reluctant to report suspicions because of fear of false accusations. The topic is often not brought up between parents and children.
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