Daniel Island targets child sexual abuse

Prevent-a-thon trainings underway throughout August

It doesn’t matter where you live or what your socio-economic status is. Experts warn that child sexual abuse can cross all boundaries to impact every person in every community, even a place as idyllic as Daniel Island. But a coalition of island residents, parents, clergy members, and business leaders is working hard to make sure it doesn’t happen in our backyard.

Throughout the month of August, Daniel Island will participate in the Darkness to Light Prevent-a-thon, a media-driven initiative that gives concerned adults the tools to fight child sexual abuse in their communities. As part of the effort, Daniel Island will offer multiple "Stewards of Children" trainings (see side box for dates and times) to educate participants on how to prevent, recognize, and react responsibly to this devastating crime. Anyone who has child family members, works with children, or is involved with children in any way is encouraged to attend.

"If you have any dealings with children you need to know that one in four girls and one in six boys will most likely be sexually abused before their 18^thbirthday," said Lane Aspinwall, marketing coordinator for Darkness to Light. "If there are 10 children in your sphere of influence in your life, I would say those statistics indicate one or two of those children could be abused."

"Child sexual predators are lured to areas where there are large concentrations of children and where they will have the greatest ability to groom their potential victims," said Gary White, an island resident involved in the Daniel Island Darkness to Light coalition. "In the same context, these predators will be more likely to remove themselves from areas where there is a large concentration of parents, teachers and adults who are trained on what to look for, how to identify predators and what to do if they suspect a problem."

It is exactly that power, or ability to make a difference, that motivated island resident Kecia Greenho to get involved. She recently became a trained"Stewards of Children" facilitator and will be one of several coalition members conducting the community trainings.

"As a parent I feel really passionately about increasing awareness of child sexual abuse," said Greenho. "The more people that we have aware of what’s going on and what to look for, then we will send a very clear message as a community that we will not tolerate sexual predators involved with our children."

The statistics surrounding child sexual abuse certainly paint a grim picture. According to the Darkness to Light Web site, 34 percent of those who sexually abuse children are family members, while 59 percent are friends or acquaintances. Perhaps even more disturbing is that only about one in 10 victims tell.

"What we’retrying to do [through our Prevent-a-thon] is effect a change in our community in terms of the way people view child sexual abuse," added Aspinwall.

By reaching 5 percent of a community’s population, Aspinwall hopes to begin tipping the scales in the right direction.

"If we can reach5 percent of the population, we hope we will have created enough awareness and educated enough adults that the whole community will be tuned into child sexual abuse so we can stamp it out."

Based on Daniel Island’s population of 5,000, the coalition has set a goal of training between 250 and 350 people. A generous grant from the Daniel Island Community Fund Foundation covered the cost of the "Stewards of Children" facilitator training sessions. Coalition members are hoping island businesses will support the effort as well.

"We have a special responsibility because of the unique community that we have,"added Greenho. "Many of our children are very independent and have more freedom than they would in a larger community. So I don’t want us to have this false sense of security where you just send your kids out there and think that everything will be safe. I know I will feel safer knowing there are 300 people out there that will be trained to look for child sexual predators and to be aware so they can intervene if they see something that is not quite right."

"This initiative is a great thing for Daniel Island," said Julie Dombrowski, communications director for the Daniel Island Company. "The residents here are in a unique position to be able to set an example of how a community can come together to protect its children. As a community, I think we’ve demonstrated over and over again how effective we can be when we wrap our arms around an initiative like this. I believe this effort promises to be an outstanding success."