Karen A. Duncan, M.A., LMFT, LSW
Facts and Information about Child Sexual Abuse
- Parent education and adult information about sexual abuse prevention is only beginning to be recognized as a key component to stopping perpetrators and preventing sexual abuse before it occurs.
- The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (2000) estimates that 12 percent of current children are sexually abused each year. Given current population studies this translates into a half-million children each year experience the traumatic crime of sexual abuse.
- Sexual abuse continues to be the most underreported type of abuse that occurs to children.
- One in four girls and one in six boys will experience some form of sexual abuse before the age of 17.
- Family members or someone close to the family accounts for 85% of child sexual abuse reports - strangers account for 15%.
- Children can tell about sexual abuse, not prevent it from happening in the first place.
- Children can only tell about a perpetrator when it is safe to do so.
- Prevention programs that continue to emphasize "stranger danger" "body safety" and "safe touch" leave out important information about the highest risk posed by family members and other adults close to the family.
- Studies indicate that as high as 75% of the women who seek health services have experienced some form of sexual abuse.
- Sexual abuse in childhood creates a traumatic pathway to other forms of violence for that includes domestic violence, rape and sexual assault.
- A significant number of children and teens involved in the criminal justice system have experienced some form of abuse and neglect regardless of whether the abuse has been reported or substantiated.
Parent education about child sexual abuse is key
to preventing the victimization of children