Hello World,

If anything good has come from this whole Penn State scandal, it is the awareness that pedophiles are truly all around us, and often they are people that are trusted and revered by others. Since the news of these allegations broke, people across the nation are admitting they were sexually abused when they were children and are no longer hiding in secret shame.

Here is one person’s story on NPR: Penn State Scandal Emboldens Other Abuse Victims

This summer when I attended the Greater Philadelphia Christian Writers Conference in August, I met Angela Williams, who shared her story of being sexually abused by her stepfather for 14 years. Williams, who lives in the metro Atlanta area, founded VOICE Today, a grassroots initiative to launch child sexual abuse as a highly visible public issue. It is a multifaceted program that engages all forms and outlets of media and is designed to bring about social change by increasing awareness and advocating PREVENTION education. Below are some alarming statistics about child sexual abuse from the VOICE Today website:

• Numbers of children abused before they are 18 years old: 1 in 4 girls, 1 in 6 boys. Only 1 in 10 children tell.
• 90 percent of children are abused by someone they know.
• Serial child molesters may have as many as 400 victims in their lifetimes.

VOICE Today offers various services for child sexual abuse victims including education and prevention workshops and healing workshops. For more information, please go here.

I also met New York Times best-selling author Cec Murphey, who was a victim of child sexual abuse as well. Through his blog menshatteringthesilence.blogspot.com, he provides a safe place for other male victims of child sexual abuse to connect with each other. He is also the author of “When a Man You Love Was Abused: A Woman’s Guide to Helping Him Overcome Childhood Sexual Molestation” which is available on the blog site.

I pray that all of us, even those of us who are not parents, take care of our children…they need us…

Any thoughts?

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