Body Safety

the body safety program

In January and February of 2004, with funds from the local Office of Family and Children, Dunebrook facilitated the training of six local area police officers and one Dunebrook staff member who will present the Body Safety Child Molest Prevention Program to LaPorte County elementary schools. The Body Safety Program was developed by Sgt. Terry Hall, a twenty-eight year veteran of the Indianapolis Police Department. Sgt. Hall personally provided the training for the local officers and staff on-site at Dunebrook, in four local elementary schools, and at a two-day Child Sexual Abuse seminar in Indianapolis at the Public Agency Training Council.

Prior to school presentations, public informational meetings are held for parents, school staff, and other community members. After an explanation of the program and an overview of what the children will learn, guests have an opportunity to ask questions about the program.

Body Safety presentations last approximately 28 minutes. Children are empowered to protect themselves from molestation by repeating that their body parts belong to them and that they have the right to say "No" to a touch to their private parts for no good reason or just to play a game (a tactic used by many molesters). Children are not frightened into watching out for strangers because the majority of sexual abuse of children comes from people they know. Instead, children are taught just to watch their own bodies.

In the Body Safety presentation, children are taught the proper names for their private parts. There have been occasions when children have reported abuse to a parent or other adult and have not been understood because the adult was not in tune with the terms the child was using. Molesters often use a game scenario for the molestation in order to trick children and, in the process, use various and bizarre names for the body parts. The program attempts to circumvent the main reason that children don't tell when they are molested - embarrassment. Dispelling the embarrassment of using proper names for the body parts helps to limit the chance for confusion when a report is made.

As an important part of a good overall safety program, teachers and parents are encouraged to role-play with the children and regularly remind them about the principles they learned at their Body Safety presentation. Molesters prey on the innocence of our children. No one can watch over them every moment of every day. The purpose of the Body Safety Program is to empower children to protect themselves by teaching them to say "No" to a touch to their private parts for no good reason and by teaching them the proper words to use to tell so that they will be understood.

Children are our nation's greatest resource; let us all strive to protect them.

For more information about the Body Safety Program, contact Ginnifer Jobgen at Dunebrook.

(219) 874-0007; (800) 897-0007; ginnifer@dunebrook.org