Keeping Them Safe

Send us Fan Mail In this episode we take a look at some research from a different source to see how an investigation from a criminal perspective can reinforce and perhaps enhance the value of what we are discovering in this journey. What can offenders tell us about how they work to develop and cultivate relationships that give them access to our children that will help us create and maintain safe...

Send us Fan Mail Many organizations have agreements with area schools, organizations, and programs to share facilities. This episode looks at the challenges of ensuring that those outside organizations are complying with the standards you set for your facilities and programs to ensure safety for all concerned. 

Send us Fan Mail This episode speaks to the establishment of actual physical environments that promote safe environments using the context of the guidelines set forth in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Patents, administrators, teachers, volunteers and vendors can gain insight into how to establish policies, procedures, and practices that preserve and promote safety and how to ensure...

Send us Fan Mail This episode intends to dispel any notion that we "know" where to look for potential perpetrators because of who they are.  It also deals with new research about female perpetrators and the devastating consequences for our children of our failure to look in their direction for the behaviors we know  place children at risk of harm. 

Send us Fan Mail This episode considers the challenges faced by parents when grandparents, aunts and uncles don't seem to be able to follow the parents' rules or avoid giving gifts without permission. Grandparents and aunts and uncles can see how their unwillingness to pay attention to this warning sign places children at risk of harm from other adults with a different agenda. 

Send us Fan Mail In this episode we continue a discussion of the Potentially Risky Adult behaviors by considering what it looks like in reality when someone "always wants to be alone with children" and how we can stop that from happening.

Send us Fan Mail In this episode the need for reinvention of prevention efforts throughout the child welfare system is discussed including references to a presentation by Dr. Jerry Milner, former Associate Director of The Children’s Bureau and Acting Commissioner of the US. Government’s Administration for Children, Youth and Families. Dr. Milner addresses the need for reinventing our prevention ef...

Send us Fan Mail  Dr. Maggie Ingram, Health Scientist, from the CDC’s National Center for Injury Prevention and Control and Division of Violence Prevention’s Child Abuse, Neglect, and Adversity Team joins us to talk about a topic that can sometimes be uncomfortable or hard to discuss: problematic sexual behavior among children. In this podcast, you will gain an understanding of what’s healthy and...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, Sharon answers several of the questions that have repeatedly been asked of her over the last 25 years as she has presented programs to adults around the country. Among the questions are those that identify the different types of predators that molest our children, why the children feel guilty when they are victimized, and what percentage of abuse occurs in familie...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode we look at the ways that predators in our environments groom us so that they are free to gain access to our children in secluded areas.  Consider that there are effective ways that potential predators manipulate us into giving them free reign with our children and until we recognize those ways of being and acting and interrupt them, the children in our environment...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode we explore how we, as responsible, caring, alert adults can make a difference by simply bringing our already exceptional abilities to notice what's happening around us to the summer adventures we have with the children in our lives. We know how to pay attention and take note of the things that are happening around us but do we always bring that ability to the...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode we talk about how difficult it is to realize the nature and scope of the issue and how important it is to deal with our strongly held beliefs as if they are myths. Looking at reality regarding child sexual abuse it the only way we can create an environment where children are safe from predators. 

Send us Fan Mail We all need to realize the scope of the problem of child sexual abuse in our society. We need to consider how harmful it is to keep quiet or to talk ourselves out of speaking up. In this episode, we confront the truly human reaction to the need to speak up and protect others and how we must garner the courage to take action. 

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, Ronni Roni, a Keeping Them Safe facilitator talks about how she is reaching out to parents and providing them with the tools to stop predators in their tracks at the same time their children are being empowered to stand up for themselves. Doing both at the same time really expands the power of prevention. 

Send us Fan Mail This episode addresses some of the hurdles that adults face when considering whether to communicate a concern about another adult or how to do it in a way that reduces the risk of a bad reaction. We all have concerns about these issues when there is something we know we need to speak up about. Where children are concerned that risk to their wellbeing is of paramount importance. 

Send us Fan Mail In this episode we discuss the similarities and differences between the grooming of a child for sexual abuse and the grooming for a child who is the victim of human trafficking. Many people often collapse the two issues - again in order to put the issue at arm's length and keep it away from them and their family. However, there are similarities and big differences, and this e...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode we talk about one of the behavioral warning signs that is most difficult to identify and address - too much touching. What is "too much" touching? Are we not supposed to touch other people's children at all? How do we know when we are acting in a way that nurtures a child's well being and when our actions are conditioning a community to allow a...

Send us Fan Mail What is a gift? We think that is an easy question, but this episode challenges us to look at what we call a "gift" and see whether it is really a "gift" so that we can teach our children the difference. We and they need to be able to tell the difference between something that is truly a "gift" and something that look like, seems like, and acts like a...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, Sharon answers some of your questions about predators. Who are they? Are they all pedophiles? What's the difference? What about strangers who abduct, molest, and often kill children? Are all predators male - or at least most of them? 

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, Sharon shares with us some hints about the ways that grooming is accomplished using techniques such as bribery, flattery, jealousy, and anger. You will have an opportunity to look at the ways that you use these techniques to gain what you want and begin to see how a predator goes further in order to manipulate you, the child and the community and accomplish their...

Send us Fan Mail LaChez English, from the Oklahoma State Health Department provides all of us with Everyday actions we can take to prevent child abuse and neglect. This episode is presented in service of April as Child Abuse Prevention Month.

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, Robyn Sears of the Oklahoma Child Guidance Center shares many simple ways that we can make a difference in our community and support families as part of a month long concentrated focus on prevention of child abuse. Take the time to learn how you can bring a new eye to situations that you encounter every day and perhaps prevent abuse and neglect. 

Send us Fan Mail This Interview with the Creative Director of the VIRTUS Protecting God's Children program addresses the challenges faced by a program that started to implement this new paradigm more than 20 years ago in the U. S. Roman Catholic Church. Crispin talks about the successes and the hurdles that have impacted the program's objectives and identifies some of the spaces adults g...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, we engage in a conversation with Erica Frazier, a child guidance counselor committed to shifting the paradigm. Erica talks about the need for parents and other responsible adults to learn about these potentially risky behaviors and begin to intervene and stop possible grooming from proceeding. 

Send us Fan Mail In this episode we talk about how predators continue to cultivate a relationship with children that leaves out the parents by operating in ways that ignore the parents' rules and cultivate an environment of secrecy. In addition, parents are encouraged to have conversations with their children that thwart secrecy and open the door to the children being able to tell the parents...