SafeKids Network exists to reduce the occurrence of child abuse.
Who are our clients?
We serve organizations that interact with children and their parents. We help organizations develop customized protocols that protect these children from abuse.
- We serve non-profit organizations and businesses.
- We serve these organizations and their paid and volunteer workers.
Why target these clients? By focusing on these clients, we stabilize the environments where risks are high. Consider these myths about child safety:
- Myth: “Stranger Danger.” It’s not true that strangers—people the children or their families don’t know—pose the greatest threat to children. Over 75% of reported sexual abuse against children is from people in the child’s community that the parents had learned to trust.
- Myth: “Child molesters are that way because they were abused as children.” It’s not true that children who have been abused are likely to become abusers themselves—most survivors understand more clearly than others how terrible abuse is.
- Myth: “Criminal Background Checks will identify most abusers.” It’s not true that people who are apt to abuse children can be easily identified. Psychopaths are usually better at deceiving people than experts are at identifying psychopaths. Criminal background checks only identify criminals who have slipped up and gotten caught.
Which organizations are at greatest risk?
We serve organizations that are at greatest risk of being infiltrated by abusive adults.
- Some abusers are intentionally “grooming” the parents or organizations—they try to gain undeserved trust so they can get unhindered sexual access to their victims and so allegations against them will be easy to dismiss.
- Other abusers have habits and beliefs that lead to more direct abuse of children: yelling, shaming, hitting.
These are the agencies at greatest risk, the ones who have the greatest need for our services:
- Public Schools
- Private Educational Organizations
- Day Care Facilities
- Churches, Mosques, Synagogues
- Sports Organizations
- Public Service Groups
- Child and Family Advocacy Groups
- Organizations that provide private tutors, teachers, coaches
What are the real risks that we help clients avoid?
- Litigation: the average lawsuit against an agency that allowed abuse because of negligence or undocumented due diligence is $7,000,000. That is the average settlement of this type in Oregon during the past 10 years: some were obviously much more.
- False accusation: this is always hard to protect against; however, your ability to document your carefulness is your greatest defense and comfort.
- Last (because its importance greatly outweighs other concerns) is the harm done to the children who were abused because of the distraction, ignorance, or carelessness of the adults they were dependent on for safety.
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