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Everyone has a role in preventing child sexual abuse

The Oskaloosa Herald - 6/5/2018

June 05--OSKALOOSA -- Everybody in the community has a part to play in preventing child sexual abuse, said Child Sexual Assault Prevention Specialist Martha Comfort.

Comfort said she understands that sexual abuse of children is something people don't want to talk about. It's a sensitive subject.

"But if we don't talk about it and try to prevent it," she said, "then we're just going to be a part of the problem still."

Comfort cited numbers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: one in four girls and one in six boys are sexually assaulted before the age of 18.

"And then we also know that 93 percent of the time, they know the perpetrator. They know them or their family knows them," she said. "So that's one thing that we do know for sure. And we also know of the cases, about 1 out of 3 cases it's where the juvenile is the perpetrator. So it could be a teenage boy on a younger child."

A tremendous amount of research has been done, Comfort said. Comfort is part of an evidence-based program at Crisis Intervention Services called Care for Kids. It's research-based and for children ages 3-8.

In Mahaska County, Comfort is also part of a group called Community Partners for the Protection of Children (CPPC), which meets at noon the first Tuesday of each month at New Hope Community Center.

"We would love to have people come. Then you know what's going on in your community. You learn all sorts of things; even about children aren't getting vaccinated," Comfort said. "What can we do as a community to raise awareness on that. It's all coming together to help each other."

Comfort works in five counties in Iowa currently, teaching child sexual abuse and education. A grant has recently been approved, which will allow Comfort to add Mahaska County schools to her circuit of education.

Comfort is intent on increasing awareness of sexual abuse prevention.

"I think in a lot of our rural communities, just the talk of sexuality as a whole is just such a bad, bad thing. That's why we're trying to teach people how important it is," she said. "You don't tell a preschooler about the act of sex. But you can tell them their body part names, so it's just such a common thing and they know this is my body and nobody touches it and I'm the boss of it. So that when something happens, they'll well, wait a minute and they don't feel shame."

A lot of times, Comfort said, she believes awareness tends to come after a big case has happened. She said she feels some communities still to refuse to believe child sexual abuse happens.

"It's not that I think they don't want to do anything about it, it's just that they can't wrap their heads around that 'in this wonderful little community I live in this happened and I thought it was safe,'" she said. "It kind of just breaks apart their world."

Managing Editor Angie Holland can be reached at aholland@oskyherald.com and followed on Twitter @OskyAngie.

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(c)2018 The Oskaloosa Herald (Oskaloosa, Iowa)

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