JEFFERSON PARISH, La. (WGNO) – With the ongoing investigation involving students being sexually assaulted on a Jefferson Parish school bus, parents could find themselves answering some tricky questions. Experts say honesty is the best policy, but parents should try to keep things age-appropriate.
Here’s a statistic that keeps people like Shirley Young and Stacie Schrieffer LeBlanc very busy: National statistics say one in four girls and one in six boys have been sexually abused by the age of 18.
LeBlanc is the executive director of the New Orleans Children’s Advocacy Center, where she shares another frightening fact: The Center is seeing a nearly 30 percent increase so far this year, in the number of children brought in to be forensically interviewed.
In addition to court admissible interviews, children are also given head-to-toe medical exams.
“Typically kids wait, they hold onto that secret and they don’t tell right away, so as a result it’s not essential that they are brought into an emergency room. It’s more important that they get a really good caring, compassionate exam in an environment like this, in a clinic setting,” says LeBlanc.
But LeBlanc says that if you suspect something might have happened within the past 72 hours, the clinic can contact the on-call pediatrician, or arrange for an emergency room visit.
Social worker Shirley Young advises parents to pay attention to their child’s language, answer questions – and, she says, don’t be dismissive.
“If a child says they’re afraid of the dark, ask them why they’re afraid, what they are afraid of. Don’t say ‘Oh, there’s nothing to be afraid of, there are no monsters under the bed,’ because maybe there is something else going on,” says Young.
She says other signs that there may be a problem include a child using sexually explicit language or behavior that is inappropriate for their age, such as acting out sexually with another child in play.
LeBlanc says some of the most important rules can often be the hardest to follow.
“The first and foremost is always to remain calm. It’s so important for kids not to feel like the parents blame or shame them, and it’s really important for the parent to understand not to question the child as to why they may not have told earlier,” says LeBlanc.
She also suggests parents try hard to ask fewer questions and spend more time listening to their little ones.
Reporting an assault can be confusing and frightening for a child, but Young points out, the children are not the only victims.
“Parents should also get help. Sometimes it’s a lot more traumatic for the parent than the child because the parent knows what happened and understands the impact of it. The family’s affected, society’s affected, it goes on and on,” says Young.
If you’re interested in the Darkness to Light child sexual abuse prevention program, click here.
The next sessions are June 5, August 7, October 2, and December 4, at the Children’s Hospital Calhoun Campus. These two-hour sessions empower adults to recognize and respond responsibly to signs of child sexual abuse.
