Grant will help provide sexual abuse education

The Council on Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence (CSADV) Plymouth County outreach shared its message of sexual abuse prevention with more than 500 children this past school year.

A $6,500 grant received this month from Prevent Child Abuse (PCA) Iowa will help CSADV Plymouth County outreach continue educating elementary, preschool and daycare children.

Cathy Van Maanen, CSADV coordinator for the Plymouth County outreach office in Le Mars, said PCA Iowa oversees various aspects of preventing child abuse.

In addition to providing partial funding for awareness and prevention, the grant also provides incentives for children like coloring books, "I am special" pencils and little Happy Bears, Van Maanen said.

For many years CSADV utilizes the "Happy Bear Program" and the "Body Safety and Me" curriculum to help educate this younger age group of children.

"(The grant) also helps pay for information booklets for the parents," Van Maanen said. "This year we will place a special emphasis on reaching more parents of young children to share information on how to talk to your children about sexual abuse."

Parents are children's first teacher and the CSADV wants to support and help them become more comfortable initiating these conversations at home, Van Maanen said.

"Parent instruction includes ideas about how to start the conversation at home and what steps to take if a child reveals sexual abuse," she said. "Most important is that children learn how to recognize inappropriate touch and how to tell a trusted adult if they have been touched."

Van Maanen hopes to introduce sexual abuse prevention programs in Bible Schools and Sunday Schools in churches as another outlet to provide education.

"More churches are doing that now," Van Maanen said. "It's something the faith community can participate in by helping to promote safety for young children."

The Governor's Advisory Council on the Iowa Child Abuse Prevention Program (ICAPP) recommended awarding a total of about $1.3 million in grant money to 172 of 181 proposed ICAPP projects, including CSADV, according to a PCA Iowa press release.

PCA Iowa's mission is to end child abuse in the entire state.

The main assumption supporting this goal is child abuse is preventable and children can be made safe from it if families receive appropriate and timely social support, respite child care, and education, according to the press release.

That mission is reflected in the CSADV's programs for children and parents.

"In our community, we prevent child abuse by building strong families and by encouraging people to become involved in the prevention of child abuse and neglect," Van Maanen said.