What I have shared of my personal experience is just a glimpse at the gamut of:
types of abuse,
the signs,
the lifelong toll abuse takes on a child,
what you can do to prevent,
what you can do if it happens,
and much more.
The following are a few resources you may find helpful:
RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network) is the nation's largest anti-sexual violence organization. RAINN created and operates the National Sexual Assault Hotline - 800.656.HOPE, online.rainn.org, rainn.org/es (in Spanish) in partnership with more than 1,000 local sexual assault service providers across the country and operates the DoD Safe Helpline for the Department of Defense. RAINN also carries out programs to prevent sexual violence, help survivors, and ensure that perpetrators are brought to justice.
Educate and Empower Kids (EEK) provides resources to parents and educators as they guide their children in the digital age. We believe this must be intentionally done by teaching about digital citizenship, media literacy, and healthy sexuality—including education about the dangers of online pornography. They have a variety of pamphlets available free for download.
Scared Silent
I could never understand how my abusers were able get away with what they did. Didn’t anyone notice how fearful and confused I was? Wasn’t anyone ever suspicious of why he spent so much time alone with me? Scared Silent is a movie made in 2002 that answered those questions and many others for me. And because so much of it has been my own personal experience, it also made me truly angry and left me shaking my head. Even though it has hopefully not been your experience, I have no doubt that you will have the same reaction.
In this riveting story, the wife of a Minnesota police chief recognizes the new officer on the force charming some of the female students at the nearby high school. She knows him as the man that raped her thirteen years earlier when she was seventeen years old. This sets the stage for a tense confrontation. The police chief and his wife work tirelessly to locate other victims and form an alliance with a sympathetic lawyer. All to put an end to the officer’s abuse and ultimately his job. The legal challenges drag on until he is finally exposed for what he is. During this time, the story follows the accused as he continues to shamelessly hone his methods of cunning, manipulation, and intimidation. Moved to serve in other districts, he manages to fool even his supervisors who have been informed of his reported behavior.