Youth serving organizations like day care centers, camps, scouts, sports teams and the like can be a wonderful resource and source of valuable education, socialization, and activities. They can teach our children so much about becoming better human beings. We entrust them with our children, believing them to be experts in caring for or supervising our children for hours or days at a time. But, are parents checking to see what kind of child safety policies and training protocols are in place in these organizations? They should be. The safety of their children is at stake.
During my 10 years as a federal prosecutor, I had to view horrific images of children being abused during investigations and prosecutions of child pornography cases. These images will always haunt me. The very worst involved infants. Yes, infants. It is difficult to even contemplate that adults would sexually assault the most vulnerable of all children. Sadly, they do. And these babies cannot cry for help or tell an adult. A case in the news this week shows that the combination of a failure of safety protocols and vulnerable infants can be a terrible combination. A 25 year old woman was arrested in Ohio for sexually assaulting at least two infants in the day care in which she worked. She filmed this horrific abuse. Police only uncovered this unspeakable crime when investigating the woman’s convicted sex offender boyfriend and seizing a laptop at the home where the two lived. The laptop contained images of the woman abusing infants at her day care. It may be a while before the full story is revealed, but we should learn soon how many other children might have been victimized. I hope any investigation includes one into the safety procedures at this day care center. Every parent should immediately discover what kind of training and safety policies are in place in all the organizations with whom they entrust their precious children. See the news reports at: http://bit.ly/16rWZgr
Francey Hakes 