On average, one in seven children have experienced some form of abuse in the past year and one in four girls and one in thirteen boys will experience sexual abuse before the age of eighteen. During the month of April and throughout the year, citizens are urged to stand together against child abuse and sexual violence by offering support and understanding to survivors and participate in awareness activities. Knox County Child Advocacy Center Executive Director Jill Mann encourages everyone to listen if a child is speaking up and report the situation:
“There are so many people in Illinois that are now mandated reporters. Even if you are not a mandated reporter, we hope that you will report that. It is really important to listen to kids. A lot of times kids will try to disclose abuse; adults don’t always listen. Studies have shown that sometimes kids will report it up to seven or eight times before an adult actually takes them seriously. Any child that discloses abuse to anyone, please make that hotline abuse call to DCFS and listen; listen and believe them. So often they are talking about things they shouldn’t know anything about at six or seven years old. Also, try not to question them too much yourself. Say things to them like ‘I am going to try and help you,’ ‘I understand what you are saying,’ ‘I believe what you are saying,’ ‘I’m so sorry that that happened to you, let’s see if we can get you help.’ Too many questions sometimes can shut them down; it sounds like you don’t believe them if you start questioning too much.”
The Knox County Child Advocacy Center works with child victims of sexual and severe physical abuse in Knox and Warren Counties. A Striking Out Child Abuse fundraiser will be held at the Knights of Columbus in Galesburg on Friday, April 28th beginning at 6:30 pm.
Knox County Child Advocacy Center | Galesburg IL | Facebook
