Keeping your child safe is the number one priority for most parents. Child abuse cases are on the rise, bullying and cyber-bullying from other students is a daily occurrence, and an increasing number of cases involving inappropriate teacher-child relationships can overload a parent's child safety radar.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, approximately 90% of abused children are molested by someone already known to the child or family. The molester can be anyone from a relative, neighbor, teacher, coach to the maintenance man that fixes things in their home. There is no specific character traits to identify them.
Recently, there was a new app released, that could make it much easier to keep a child from becoming a victim of sexual abuse. The app is called SafeParent and it was created by Jeff Herman, a child advocate and attorney for victims of sexual abuse. Herman realized that children could be better protected from predators, if their parents knew how to recognize the grooming techniques of potential abusers and respond quickly.
The SafeParent app was designed to encourage open communication between parents and their child, and also to help parents be more aware of potential danger and pitfalls. Parents can take the quiz first, and then they are encouraged to take the quiz with their kids. Some parents may be surprised at some of their kids answers, and quickly realize that there is potentially inappropriate behavior occurring between their child and another adult. After all of the questions are answered, the quiz is scored on the SafeParent meter by calculating a concern score ranging from low to immediate threat. If someone makes your child feel uncomfortable or you are uncomfortable with them after taking the quiz, take steps to insure your child is not left alone with that person.
The SafeParent app is free to download and should be on every parent's phone. You can find SafeParent on Itunes or the Google play store. For more information about Jeff Herman and his law firm go to www.hermanlaw.com. For additional tips on how to talk to your child about safety and other child safety topics, go to www.mvacaunited.org. #safeandunafraid
