What you can do   www.darkness2light.org www.childwatch.uio.no www.familywatchdog.us      If you live on a residential block somewhere in America, odds are one child living on your block is either being abused at this time or has been sexually abused. That’s on your block.If you live in an apartment building, it is likely that some child living on the same floor is being sexually abused at this moment. Nine out of ten Americans, when surveyed on the subject, report that they regard child abuse as a serious problem. Yet only one in three actually reported the child abuse when they were confronted with a situation. Where does that leave us? You? Me? Our neighbors?  Well, if nothing else, we need to find meaningful ways to improve on that ratio of one to three who actually report the abuse. Now that’s do-able. That’s something each of us can accomplish in our individual environments. We don’t need government grants. We don’t need outside intervention to do the one thing that each of us has the power to do. And that is, when we suspect abuse is occurring, report it.  I can’t tell you it will be easy, because I know it won’t be. Molesters only have a three percent chance of being apprehended. By age eighteen, one in four girls will have been sexually assaulted. And one out of ten men, ten percent of the total, are doing the offending and surprisingly one in twenty-five women are pedophiles. Do you remember the female teacher that had not one but two children fathered by her twelve-year-old student? So even if it seems hopeless, we’ve got to keep up our vigilance. There are seven steps that child molesters use to groom their victims for the ‘kill’. I’m going to list these steps so that you can see the coordinated attack that these monsters use on our children.   ·      Once they have selected a potential victim, they withhold attention from the victim while showering attention on members of the victim’s peer group. This accomplishes two goals. The first is that it separates the victim from the group.  Secondly, it makes the child crave attention from the perpetrator. ·      The predator will then praise the victim. That makes the child now worthy of attention. It does not matter what this behavior is so long as the child learns to garner attention by behavior that pleases the groomer. ·      The pervert moves on to a reward, usually something that is slightly improper such as alcohol or perhaps a secret second helping of dessert that no one else gets. ·      The molester will make this reward a secret just between the two of them. The molester will tell his victim that he will be in trouble if the kid tells on him. ·      Test the victim’s willingness to keep the secret and then reward for not telling by involvement in more questionable behavior. ·      Bind the child to the molester by convincing him or her that it is the sharing of this “bad behavior” that makes their relationship special. The molester will tell the child that they both will be punished if anyone finds out. ·      Strike and then make the child responsible for the safety of the victim’s family or peer group by threatening to harm those if the victim ever tells or refuses sex.   And so it goes until we, the people make the protection of the most vulnerable in our society our highest priority. I want you to know that you do not have to go it alone. There are several fine organizations that want to help us protect our children.  One of the finest is Darkness2Light. Another helpful organization is Child Watch International. Today, as you go about your life, you will be taken aback by the brightness of the world outside. Don’t forget that feeling. Ashley and Miranda are counting on it.