What precautions can a parent or guardian take to protect a child from sex crimes? Completely guaranteeing that you will be able to protect a child from being the victim of a sex crime may not be possible, but there are parameters that caretakers can put into place to be able to monitor their child’s safety.
First and foremost, trust your gut. We have natural instincts as parents to help guide us in protecting our children. If for any reason something ever feels off when your child is alone with certain adults or goes certain places, it’s OK to say no. Do not let the fear of hurting other adults’ feelings or having to have an uncomfortable conversation with someone keep you from protecting your child. Also, there should never be adults talking to your child on social media, even close adult friends. There should never be private conversations going on between your child and another adult without your awareness.
We often want to trust others and give them the benefit of the doubt, but in this scenario protect first and trust later. Trust is key to protect a child from sex crimes. Parents can also become educated on the facts of sexual abuse. There are many great resources available to parents to help them with this important subject. To learn more about how sex offenders are reaching out to kids click here.
Also, see our blog post where Criminal Defense Attorney Shawn McDonald answers the question “What do you do if a child says they were sexually assaulted?” for more helpful information.
Video Transcript
Shawn McDonald: “I think first and foremost it’s just trust your gut. You know, something doesn’t feel right with somebody that’s close to your child, it’s probably not. Secondly, if they’re communicating on social media with an adult, then there’s a problem. Like as an adult, I should never, ever be communicating with a child via Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, my daughter’s friends, never should be having those conversations on social media. Those conversations are taking place it’s via text message that can be verified what was said or wasn’t said, not like Snapchat. And don’t ever let your child be alone with anybody that’s… you’re not… essentially wouldn’t trust your life with. That’s, that’s hard for parents because they don’t want to be that type of person that is not trusting, but that’s the reality of it. And the line of work I do is, you know, my daughter is going to be hard pressed to get my permission to have a sleepover at someone’s home. She has wonderful friends and their parents are wonderful, but at the end of the day, I don’t really know them. I don’t really know their neighbors, I don’t know the 16 year old teenage kid that lives next door that they’re going to go to the pool and swim or they’re going to play outside with, you know, on a cul-de-sac and the adults aren’t really watching because it’s a cul-de-sac. I don’t, I don’t know all of that.”
Disclaimer
*This blog post is for general information purposes only. Nothing on this site should be taken as legal advice for any individual case or situation. This information is not intended to create, and receipt or viewing does not constitute, an attorney-client relationship.