High school student says St. Albans district failed to support her after sexual harassment allegations.

Article by Shaun Robinson VT Digger Mar 27 2022

Georgia Casavant stood in front of her local school board this month and held up a black-and-white dress. 

It was the dress she wore for her senior pictures, she said. Ask her parents, she continued, and they’ll probably pull out of their wallets a photo of her wearing it.

“This was my favorite dress,” Casavant told the Maple Run Unified School District board on March 16. “It was also the dress that I was wearing when I was sexually harassed, for the first time, by a staff member at BFA.”

Casavant, 18, said she was sexually harassed twice last fall by the same employee at Bellows Free Academy-St. Albans, a regional high school in Franklin County.

Casavant did not name the employee at the public meeting nor in an interview with VTDigger, but a school district report on the incident identifies him as Peter Jones, who is listed on the school’s website as a teacher in the library and media center. In a statement provided by his attorney, Jones confirmed some of the details of Casavant’s account but denied wrongdoing.

The two incidents took place in the first few months of the 2021-22 school year, Casavant said in an interview. In the first, Jones complimented and touched her dress, according to Casavant. Later in the fall, she said, Jones looked at her chest and asked if she was wearing anything underneath a sweatshirt she had on.

The second incident prompted a monthslong investigation, according to the high school senior and her father, John Casavant. Maple Run Superintendent Bill Kimball said one allegation ultimately was substantiated as a violation of the district’s Title IX policy.

Title IX is a federal law that prohibits discrimination based on sex in educational institutions that receive federal funding, such as public schools. It also covers sexual harassment and sexual violence.

John Casavant said the staff member was put on leave for about four months during the investigation, then returned to school earlier this month. In the weeks since, Georgia Casavant said, school officials have not given her the support she needs.

“The silence has been deafening,” John Casavant said at the school board’s March 16 meeting. His daughter, who was 17 when the incidents happened, sat nearby. 

“It’s clear that either there’s been tacit or direct communication with staff to say, ‘Don’t talk about this,’” the father continued. “It leaves the victim all by herself. It’s wrong.”

VTDigger does not typically name victims of alleged sexual misconduct — particularly those who are underage. In this case, Georgia and John Casavant spoke about the incidents in public and agreed to be named in this story.

Before the Casavants spoke at the meeting, the board’s chair, Nilda Gonnella-French, read a statement asserting that the district takes allegations of sexual harassment seriously and followed all state and federal guidelines during the investigation.

Gonnella-French also said administrators are applying “progressive discipline,” though she said she could not speak specifically about the situation because it involves a student and district personnel. She then referred any questions to Kimball.

The superintendent declined to comment on specific disciplinary actions in response to an emailed question, but he said employees who do not engage in “professional behavior” could face discipline “up to and including termination.”

He also noted that since school employees are mostly union members, disciplinary actions could be grieved by an independent arbitrator. To avoid that process, Kimball said, the district has to impose discipline that is “appropriate to the misconduct.”

In a separate statement, Kimball said the district’s investigation “fully involved” both parties, including sharing evidence and witness statements with both sides and allowing both to comment before a decision was reached.

“Both the victim and the parents have been given supportive measures by the school through multiple personnel,” he said. “We remain committed to a safe and supportive learning environment for our students and staff.”

In the statement provided by Jones’ attorney, Robert Kaplan, the teacher said he “cooperated fully” with the district’s investigation, though he disagreed with the finding that he violated Title IX policy. 

Jones, who is 54, said he is gay and “has no sexual interest in women, let alone children.” He also disputed the veracity of Georgia Casavant’s statements.

“The student’s public comments infer that I was preying on her for my own prurient interests,” he said. “Nothing could be further from the truth.” 

‘Disgustingly uncomfortable’

According to Georgia Casavant, Jones first sexually harrassed her in the first few weeks of the school year. She was in the school’s library for study hall, she said, when he looked at her and said the dress she had on was “beautiful,” before touching the hem of it.

Casavant said the situation made her “very uncomfortable,” but she brushed it off, thinking that the staff member may have had good intentions.

Then, in late October, Casavant said she was walking into the library for study hall, when the same staff member looked “right at my chest” and asked if she was wearing anything underneath the green zip-up hoodie that she had on.

“I didn’t know what to say,” Casavant told VTDigger. She turned around and told the staff member she was not, Casavant said, after which he again looked at her chest and said, “I can tell.” 

“It just made me disgustingly uncomfortable,” she said.

Georgia Casavant. Contributed photo.

Casavant immediately went out to her car and called her father, she said, who made a complaint about the incident to school administrators that day. John Casavant recalled his daughter crying on the phone. The school then launched an investigation, and the staff member was put on leave, according to John Casavant. 

A Title IX decision maker for the district ultimately found that it was “undisputed” that Jones complimented and touched Georgia Casavant’s dress, as well as that Jones looked at her chest and asked if she was wearing anything underneath her sweatshirt, according to a report of the investigation obtained by VTDigger.

The investigation also found “that a preponderance of the evidence supports” that Jones looked at Casavant’s chest again after she told him she was not wearing anything underneath her hoodie, and that he said, “I can tell.”

In addition, the school official determined Jones’ “I can tell” comment in October constituted sexual harassment under Title IX guidelines. 

According to the report, Jones was motivated to make the comment by Casavant’s gender, the comment was unwelcome and it “effectively denied (Casavant) equal access” to education as Jones “was paying attention to her body in a way that was uncomfortable to her.”

John Casavant noted that his daughter has missed full and partial days of school due to anxiety she has experienced since the second incident.

The investigation also found that Jones’ decision to touch Casavant’s dress was unwelcome, though it stated his action did not impede her access to education at the time.

Jones was out of school until early March, John Casavant said. The father feels that since Jones was found to have violated Title IX guidelines, he should no longer be employed at Bellows Free Academy.

“I, frankly, assumed that a staff member that sexually harassed a student wouldn’t come back to school,” John Casavant said.

In his statement, Jones said he commented on Georgia Casavant’s hoodie to make clear that it constituted a dress code violation and that he was trying to tell her she needed to zip up the sweatshirt.

“My choice of words was imprecise and not well considered,” he said. “That said, there was nothing sexual or sexualized in my comment to her.”

In the earlier incident, he said, “I had commented on this student’s dress and touched the hem of the dress which was quite pretty. I intended no offense by this and the student gave no indication that she was offended by my compliment.”

John Casavant said the investigation was completed in mid-February, at which point his family had an opportunity to file an appeal. They did not, he said, because they felt the report the investigation produced was accurate.

Jones said he did not appeal the result of the investigation, either, “so that the matter would be concluded.”

The Title IX decision maker recommended that Jones receive “training on sexual harassment” and “coaching on how to direct dress code violations to administration,” according to the report. However, the person noted that Kimball would be the one to determine any disciplinary actions.

In the first week of March, Georgia Casavant said, her family was told that Jones would be returning to school, though they only had two full days’ notice.

“I was mortified,” Georgia Casavant said at the school board meeting March 16. “I had two days to prepare myself to walk the same halls as my sexual harasser.”

‘A hostile environment’

In the weeks since Jones returned, Casavant said, she has felt school officials have done more to accommodate him than they have to accommodate her. 

At first, officials moved her study hall from the library to a hallway that connects two buildings at the school, known as the “connector,” where she would not be supervised by Jones. The area has places to sit but can get loud as other students walk by, Casavant said, and she had to sit there by herself.

When Casavant’s family raised these concerns with administrators, her father said, the school agreed to let her resume her study hall in the library, though under the supervision of a different teacher. 

Still, Georgia Casavant said any time she needs to access a library service such as checking out a book or printing something out, she must email the school’s assistant principal, who will then retrieve the item “when it’s convenient for her.”

Bellows Free Academy in St. Albans on June 21, 2021. File photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger

“The burden is placed on me, even though I was a victim,” Casavant said.

Moreover, Casavant said that the morning after she spoke at the school board meeting, the staff member now assigned to supervise her study hall made a comment about the situation that she considered to be disparaging. Casavant asked that employee, who is an adviser to one of her clubs, if she could go see another teacher who had asked to see her.

“She looked at me and she said, ‘I don’t know. I wouldn’t want you to harass her,’” Casavant said. “I was very, very taken aback. And I just felt like this situation was never going to end.”

John Casavant said he raised that comment with the school’s principal and Kimball, the superintendent. According to Casavant, Kimball said the teacher made an “unfortunate word choice,” and wasn’t aware of the investigation that had taken place.

“I find that, almost, utterly disbelievable,” John Casavant said.

Georgia Casavant said the comment was another burden on top of her limited access to the library, which has made her feel like school is “a hostile environment.”

Soon after she posted about the alleged harassment on social media, she said, a number of students began planning demonstrations at the school. But staff members discouraged students from demonstrating, she said, and nothing ever took place. 

In response to a question, Kimball said students are “free to protest,” though they may be disciplined if they miss class or disrupt school operations. 

Casavant said the situation feels like an “elephant in the room.” Her teachers know what happened, she said, though none of them have discussed it with her.

“It definitely distracts me from my learning — a ton,” she said. “And that, I’d say, is the hardest part: that school doesn’t feel like school anymore.”

To learn how to get abuse prevention training in your school please click to visit our training section

VT Digger: Online Child Exploitation Tips Jumped 37% During 2 Years of the Pandemic

by Tiffany Tan :reprinted from VTDigger: Online child exploitation tips jumped 37% during 2 years of the pandemic - VTDigger

Mar 17 2022

One evening last December, a team of law enforcement officers carrying a search warrant knocked on an apartment door in Claremont, New Hampshire. After speaking with the tenants, the police seized several items, including laptops, cellphones and a man’s underwear.

The following day, one of the residents, Wayne Miller, 34, was charged in federal court with producing child sexual abuse material. Authorities said his actions involved an 18-month-old child while he was living in Hartland in 2020.

Miller has also been charged in Vermont Superior Court with two counts of repeated aggravated sexual assault against the toddler, allegedly related to his production of the material.

Miller, founder and former director of a mentoring organization for Black youth in Vermont and New Hampshire, has denied the allegations. He is being held without bail while his criminal cases are being heard.  

According to court records, police began investigating Miller in November 2020 after the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children’s CyberTipline — the United States’ centralized reporting system for child exploitation online — forwarded a “cybertip” to Vermont’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. The tip originated from Google, which saw that a user in Vermont was trying to send an email containing child sexual abuse material.

Cybertips are generated when members of the public or electronic service providers, such as social media platforms and messaging applications, report suspected incidents of child exploitation through the internet. These include enticing children to engage in sex acts online, trafficking children for sex and distributing child sexual abuse material.

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children forwards these cybertips to law enforcement organizations around the country in places where the suspected perpetrators and victims are located. The tips usually go to an Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, of which there are 61 in the U.S. 

Since the coronavirus pandemic hit in 2020, the number of cybertips coming to Vermont has grown: from 330 in 2019 to 376 in 2020, and to 452 last year — a 37% increase over two years, according to data VTDigger obtained from the Vermont Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.

The task force commander, Detective Matt Raymond, said Vermont cybertips largely involve the production, distribution or possession of child sexual abuse photos or videos. Next to that are predators enticing children to meet them online and in person.  

Another trend the task force has seen in recent years is an increase in the youngest of victims — compounding the fact that most of its cybertips already involve children younger than 8.

“Infants and toddlers have become more prevalent,” said Vermont Attorney General TJ Donovan, whose office oversees the task force known as VT-ICAC. “It’s incredibly troubling on so many levels. But it really underscores the important work that ICAC is doing.”

Since 2015, when the task force became affiliated with the Attorney General’s Office, its investigations have resulted in 239 arrests, 42 of them last year. The cases are then prosecuted in Vermont state court, federal court or both.

Vermont Attorney General TJ Donovan speaks at a news conference in 2019. Behind him is Detective Matt Raymond, commander of the Vermont Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. Courtesy of Vermont Attorney General's Office

The online landscape

Donovan believes the uptick in Vermont cybertips is linked to several factors: Internet-capable devices have become more accessible, more child sexual abuse images are being created, and there are now more electronic service providers sending cybertips. Electronic service providers are required under federal law to report child exploitation they discover on their platforms.

In May and June 2019, for instance, the Vermont task force saw a spike in cybertips because several new platforms began sending reports to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. And platforms’ first reports included historical data.

The cybertips, in some ways, reflect the dominant online platforms of the times.

Raymond said TikTok, an application for sharing short videos that became popular in recent years, appeared in a Vermont cybertip for the first time in 2021. 

Most of Vermont’s TikTok reports apparently involve minors sharing inappropriate images of themselves with other minors, cases that the task force doesn’t investigate for prosecution since they involve only juveniles.

Most people, Raymond said, might be surprised to know that Twitter has also been used to share child sexual abuse images. Users can designate their accounts as private, which he said allows only their selected “followers” to see the material they share.

The cybertip picture nationwide is similarly alarming.

Callahan Walsh is a child advocate with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which runs the United States’ centralized reporting system for child exploitation online. Courtesy of NCMEC

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children says the U.S. total climbed from almost 17 million cybertips in 2019 to 21.7 million in 2020, then 29.4 million last year. That is an increase of nearly 75% during the pandemic.

The center’s leaders believe the public health emergency has been a significant factor in the growth of child exploitation online, because it increased the opportunities for predators to reach children. Due to social distancing measures during the pandemic, both adults and children have spent significantly more time on their electronic devices for work, school, entertainment, socialization and other everyday activities.

“We saw chatter on the dark web amongst these predators and these exploiters, sharing best practices,” said Callahan Walsh, a child advocate at the National Center and son of the organization’s co-founders, John and Reve Walsh. “They know that this is an opportune time.”

He said the pandemic has often given parents and guardians a false sense of security, because their children remained at home. They were within arm’s reach.

“But they’re on their phone,” Walsh said in an interview. “That’s really what’s so dangerous, because these phones really are an open portal to the rest of the world.”

Alarming, skyrocketing trends

The National Center has seen a steady increase in cases where predators entice children to produce explicit content or lure them into running away from home. It received 44,000 such cybertips last year, compared to nearly 38,000 in 2020 and 19,000 in 2019, according to new data the center released on Thursday.

Walsh said the center has also noticed more incidents of “sextortion,” in which a child who has been lured into providing sexually explicit images is extorted into handing over more images or monetary goods. Sometimes, he said, predators coerce children into taking photos or videos of their younger siblings or relatives.

At the top of the cybertip ranking — at least 99 in 100 cases — is the production, distribution and possession of child sexual abuse material. 

This equated to 29.3 million cybertips nationwide last year, up from around 21.7 million in 2020 and almost 17 million in 2019 — a jump of almost 75 percent in the past two years.  

Walsh said predators usually meet children on popular social media or gaming sites. Once they’ve earned the child’s trust, he said, predators will suggest moving to another communications platform that is not as well regulated and monitored — one that could be outside the reach of U.S. authorities and the cybertip system.

“Those, oftentimes, are also created in other countries where we may not have jurisdiction,” said Walsh, co-creator of the investigative TV series “The Hunt with John Walsh.” 

To protect children, law enforcement officials and child advocates say parents and guardians need to be vigilant.

It’s important they try to understand the technology, websites and applications their children are using, even though this could be daunting to people who aren’t tech-savvy. The National Center suggests downloading the apps children use and seeing how they work.

Parents and guardians should also set ground rules for device use and stick to them, especially if there has been improper behavior in the past. There should be a system for monitoring children’s activity online, such as who they talk to and who can see the content they create.

The National Center said most children in the U.S. get their first cellphone at age 10. But before that, they’ve already had access to the internet through the devices of their parents or older siblings.

Though some may worry that monitoring their children’s digital activity is a violation of privacy, Raymond disagrees. He said this is part of a parent’s job of protecting their children.

Most importantly, adults should be involved in their children’s daily lives by maintaining open lines of communication. That includes having ongoing conversations about safety, which evolve as children get older.

“Just like learning to drive a car, you don’t just give them the car and let them loose,” Raymond said, “so it should be with access to the internet.”

Mojo, an English lab that serves with the Vermont Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, is trained to sniff out hidden electronic storage devices where child sexual abuse material could be kept. Courtesy of Vermont Attorney General's Office

Prevent Child Abuse Vermont Applauds Attorney General Donovan’s Investigation into TikTok’s Impact on Young Vermonters Shared Concern for Safety and Well-Being of Children

MONTPELIER, VT – March 11, 2022 – The child advocates from Prevent Child Abuse Vermont (PCAVT) applaud the recent announcement by Attorney General T.J. Donovan of a joint investigation into TikTok and the harms the use of their social media platforms pose for Vermont’s children and young adults.

Both before and during the pandemic, PCAVT has been working to bring awareness to the dangers inherent in social media platforms, that are increasingly used by youth as young as 6 yrs. old. TikTok, and other social media, are being used by adults with an inappropriate sexual interest in children to establish contact with them, to develop relationships, and to groom potential victims for sexual abuse.

PCAVT Executive Director Linda Johnson shares Attorney General Donovan’s concern about TikTok targeting young Vermonters and possibly being complicit in child exploitation, grooming and human trafficking.

“We stand with the Attorney General’s investigation to protect kids from virtual platforms that make it easier for predators to contact our children,” said Johnson. “This investigation is critically important, as under the shadow of COVID-19, predators capitalized on the vulnerability of children, who are developmentally ill-equipped to keep themselves safe online.”

The investigation announced last week will help the Attorneys General from Vermont, along with a number of other states, better understand the techniques TikTok uses to target young user engagement and the computer-driven promotion of content that potentially endangers the physical and mental health of young users. This investigation will also look into alleged violations in which TikTok may be complicit in condoning predatory behaviors that go after Vermont youth and young adults.

A Message from Dr. Melissa Merrick in Response to Texas AG Opinion on Gender-Affirming Care

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton recently issued an opinion classifying medically necessary gender-affirming care to youth as child abuse. AG Paxton’s statement stands in direct opposition to the evidence-based care recognized by numerous professional societies, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, American Medical Association, Endocrine Society, and American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

Prevent Child Abuse America (PCA America) knows that providing necessary and adequate medical care to your child is not child abuse, and that transgender and non-binary children need access to age-appropriate, individualized medical care just like every other child. Therefore, PCA America opposes legislation and laws that would deny healthcare access to any child, regardless of their gender identity. Such laws threaten the safety and security of our nation’s most vulnerable citizens — children and youth.

Additionally, transgender youth are subject to violence based on their gender identity, and suffer substance abuse, homelessness, suicidality, child welfare involvement and other negative outcomes at distressingly higher rates. Medical and mental health care can reduce serious risks to their health and well-being and lead to healthy, resilient children, youth, and families.

Our network can take action to strengthen the foundations of love, safety, and support that enable all of our nation’s children to thrive. Please contact your legislators in states considering such proposed laws to make them aware that you oppose legislation that prevents access to medically necessary care for any children and youth, including those whose gender identity is transgender or non-binary.

To find your state legislators, click here. To learn more about the American Academy of Pediatrics’ position on gender-affirming care, click here.

Together, we CAN prevent child abuse, America—because childhood lasts a lifetime.

Dr. Melissa Merrick
President & CEO

PCAVT Winter News 2022

Celebrating 2021

This is the time of year that combines celebrating the beauty and fun that winter brings, while at the same time looking forward to the warmth and new growth of spring. Here at PCAVT, we are celebrating the successes of 2021, and looking forward to new growth in 2022.

Thank you to all who gave during the end of year annual appeal. Your generosity brought in over $56,000 that will directly benefit children and families across Vermont.

For example, your donations helped 363 parents who participated in our Family Support Programs, impacting 738 children, and 1,595 adults who took trainings in our Adult Responsibility Project, which impacted 8,925 children.

You have helped parents like Tom, who participated in the Nurturing Parenting Program for Families in Substance Abuse Recovery, and Nurturing Parenting Program for Fathers. The support he received and the parenting skills he learned have allowed him to navigate homelessness, recovery, and a tumultuous divorce. Tom now has full custody of his 3 children, is engaged with the children’s schools and is an active participant in his community. We celebrate Tom's progress, and look forward to even more in 2022.

Your generosity keeps all our family support programs available and free for all Vermont parents. You can see the programs available here.

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 Growing in 2022

Looking forward to new growth in 2022, we invite you to grow along with us! Below are actions you can take that will directly help.

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Take a Training!

You can find upcoming trainings here.. Find out what you can do within your own family, schools, and communities to prevent child abuse. Everyone can make a difference.

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 Vote for the VSECU Grant

If you are a member of the Vermont State Employee Credit Union (VESCU), you can vote for us in the annual WeCare2 grant process. We are one of 5 finalists in this annual community grant, and the more votes PCAVT gets, the bigger percentage of the grant will go to preventing child abuse. You can vote online, or with the materials that VSECU sent to all members. Voting continues through March.

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Volunteer Your Time and Skills

Currently there are 2 opportunities for volunteers. You may be just the right person to help facilitate our virtual parenting program meetings, or to help plan the 2022 WALK for Children. You can find more information here.

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WE CELEBRATE YOU AND LOOK FORWARD IN 2022! THANK YOU!

St Joseph's Orphanage: Many Reasons to Learn and Acquire Prevention Skills

There is an extraordinary exhibit at the Vermont Historical Museum, one that I encourage you to visit. It will be there from now until July 30th. It tells the disturbing story of St. Joseph’s Orphanage in Burlington, Vermont and the children who were abused there.

When the documented torture and abuse of children was taking place at St. Joseph’s Orphanage in Burlington, Vermont from the 1940s until it closed in 1974, most Vermonters were unaware of what was happening within those walls. Many, who may have had concerns or suspicions likely felt uncomfortable questioning the Catholic Diocese, an authority that is not easily questioned.

It was not that long ago when adults did not fully embrace and understand the responsibility that we all share in; that responsibility is to protect children.

The prevailing culture told us that no one charged with and dedicated to the care of orphaned children would ever harm them, and if children were being abused, they would tell someone and be believed and protected. That was just not what was taking place. In fact, even today, children tell and are not believed. Even courts fail to protect them some of the time.

I am writing this today in the hope that every adult Vermonter will hear how vital a role we each have regarding the safety, well-being, and protection of children and teens. Here is the most important lesson: children cannot protect themselves from those who are in a position of authority over them, who they depend upon for their basic needs, who give them attention they desperately require, but with dangerous motives, and who threaten them, coerce or shame them. Because there is often so much shame, the average age for telling is 52. Yes, 52!

We failed the survivors of abuse at St. Joseph’s Orphanage but we can do our best to care for and protect children in our families and communities now. The legacy of this horrific past can be one of hope for all our children as more adults learn how to prevent abuse, intervene in the grooming process, and report when we have suspicions.

If you are concerned about a child, call the Vermont Department for Children and Families Central Reporting Line, 1 800 649 5285. You can learn how to prevent child sexual abuse from occurring in the first place, learn how to interrupt the grooming process, and learn what to do if you suspect child abuse may be occurring. For information and resources explore our website or register for a training. Trainings are live, online, and free to all Vermonters.

Let’s honor the survivors of the St. Joseph’s Orphanage, many who gave testimony before the VT Legislature last year, by becoming more able to protect children and youth right now!

How Build Back Better Would Support American Families BY DR. MELISSA T. MERRICK

As a researcher and policy advocate who has dedicated her career to the prevention of child abuse and neglect, I was thrilled to see the House of Representatives pass the Build Back Better Act late last year. Now it’s up to the Senate to provide the necessary economic and social supports American families need to thrive as our country continues to grapple with COVID-19 and its numerous variants. 

For decades, our nation tackled the problem of child abuse and neglect through intervention and after-the-fact engagement. But research has proven that we can actually prevent child abuse before it happens by providing much-needed supports to parents and children. 

Build Back Better provides exactly the type of comprehensive economic, health, education and social supports needed to strengthen families and communities. Amid all the conversation about the proposed legislation, few have focused on the ways in which a holistic approach to family wellbeing is exactly what is needed to reduce child abuse and neglect in America.

As a parent of two young children, I know this legislation will serve as a necessary boost for parents everywhere, especially as we continue to navigate the constraints and confusion of pandemic life. 

Most notably, the Build Back Better Act helps all states — from California to Connecticut — expand access to high-quality child care for millions of children every year, making early learning options affordable for all families. It’s a well-established fact that investing in quality child care is one of the most effective ways to break the cycle of poverty, boost our economy and keep parents employed — all of which are integral in the wake of the pandemic. As a working mother, I know child care is a vital resource that helps parents maintain balance and meet their economic, as well as familial, obligations.

 As an extension of early learning accessibility, the Build Back Better Act will implement universal preschool nationwide to include two additional years of education during a critical period of child development. Preschool attendance is shown to positively impact children’s cognitive and social skills and school achievement, and decrease conduct problems throughout a child’s educational career. Preschool education has also been shown to level the playing field for low-income children and lessen achievement gaps, creating more positive learning outcomes. 

 In addition to early childhood services, the bill extends the child tax credit (CTC) through 2022 and makes full refundability permanent. This is a crucial policy move to lift children and families out of poverty — the U.S. Department of the Treasury reports that the first CTC payment reached 59.3 million children in July, keeping more than 3 million children from poverty. 

When families’ financial burdens are lifted, children can grow in safe, stable and nurturing relationships and environments, where they are more likely to enjoy good physical and mental health, succeed academically and socially, and go on to contribute to economic prosperity for everyone.

The Build Back Better Act also provides payments for eligible people who take leave from work due to a serious health condition, care for an immediate family member with a serious health condition, birth or adoption of a child or the foreign deployment of a family member in the armed forces. Financial support for parents on leave generates substantial health benefits for children and families, including increased health equity, higher rates of maternal health, lower rates of family stressors, reductions in hospitalizations for abusive head trauma and allowing employees to meet their personal and family health care needs while fulfilling work responsibilities. 

Research shows when parents feel less stressed and more supported, they can focus on positive parenting. Parents in our Healthy Families America home visiting program regularly report that concrete financial supports such as the ones proposed in Build Back Better benefit them every day. 

After nearly two years of remote work and e-learning all under one roof, I’m sure almost every parent out there has felt overwhelmed and undervalued at times. But with the right supports, parents can refocus their energy on providing a safe and nurturing home for their child to learn and flourish, even after the pandemic. When children can learn and grow in healthy environments without toxic stress, they become healthier adults who contribute significantly to society. 

The provisions in the Build Back Better Act will provide transformative investments in children and parents which are essential to ensure that families and entire communities thrive — today, tomorrow and for generations to come.

Survivor’s G7 Call to Action: Prevention, Healing, and Justice to End Childhood Sexual Violence

CALL TO ACTION TO THE G7

Survivors of sexual violence in childhood and adolescence and their allies join forces to call on bold and transformative action from G7 leaders this year:

PRIORITIZE ENDING CHILDHOOD SEXUAL VIOLENCE

G7 leaders should include this issue on their agenda when they meet in June and make concrete and timebound commitments in their communiqué

G7 Interior and Security Ministers should meet in 2022 to drive forward their ‘Action Plan to Combat Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse’. This work should be informed by the G7 working group that was announced in 2021

DELIVER ON EXISTING G7 COMMITMENTS

New Commitments of $1 billion to the End Violence Fund housed at the Global Partnership to End Violence Against Children to scale prevention, healing, and justice programmes in low and middle income countries

Commit to legislate on child-rights driven end-to-end encryption and end its use in childhood sexual violence

Publish the agreed G7 plan for coordinated engagement with industry ahead of the June G7 summit

ENGAGE WITH SURVIVORS

The G7 should establish a G7 Survivors Council as an advisory board which should help inform G7 policies and make sure that survivors’ knowledge is included in policy and practice

DEVELOP AND IMPLEMENT NATIONAL ACTION PLANS/STRATEGIES

These should be embedded in existing National Action Plans to End Violence Against Children and should include:

A whole of government approach that is fully funded, and focused on large scale prevention, healing, and justice laws and programs

Training of all relevant state employees into how to interact with and support child and adult survivors of childhood sexual violence

Adequate support services for all survivors and national campaigns to destigmatize the use of such services

The abolition of Statutes of Limitation (SOLs) in cases of childhood sexual violence where that is not already the case

Community-based child-friendly approaches for responding to child violence and witnesses of child violence

Research into, and support programs to overcome, the psychological motivation of perpetrators of childhood sexual violence.

The abhorrent global crisis of childhood sexual violence has been largely invisible, in part due to the devastating stigma and societally induced shame that many survivors experience, which prevents them from coming forward. It occurs in families, schools, places of worship, communities, sports programs, online and in the context of dating relationships and child marriage. The COVID-19 pandemic has increased the risk of online sexual abuse and exploitation as well as reduced access to prevention, interventions and response services for those who experience abuse.

It doesn’t have to be this way. As survivors and our allies, we demand prevention to protect this and every generation to come; healing for victims, survivors and their families; and justice for wrongdoers, the complicit, and the victimized.

HOW THE G7 CAN BUILD ON THEIR EXISTING COMMITMENTS

This is a global crisis which requires a multilateral response as well as a national one. Online abuse crosses borders and is facilitated by technology companies with global reach (many of which are headquartered in G7 countries). Abuse also occurs in organizations with global reach (many of which are headquartered in G7 countries). Trafficking of children and sexual exploitation perpetrated by tourists also require global action. And as the G7 have previously acknowledged, a multinational effort is required to raise funds to support survivors.

The G7 Summit will take place from 26 to 28 June 2022 at the Schloss Elmau castle in the Bavarian Alps hosted by Chancellor Scholz and the Government of Germany. At the summit the G7 should build on and strengthen previous commitments including G7 Interior and Security ministers 2021 Action plan to combat Child Sexual Exploitation and abuse (CSAE) and the G7 Heads of State 2018 Charleroix committment to ‘End sexual and gender-based violence, abuse, and harassment in a digital context’. The G7 Heads of States should implement the specific SDG target 16.2 to end all forms of violence against children.

Germany can build on its own platform which gives the country credibility to lead. Over the past 12 years Germany has invested in four critical initiatives: the Independent Commissioner for CSAE, the Survivors Council as a political advisory body, the Independent Inquiry into CSAE, and the German Stakeholder Forum on CSAE. All of these were welcomed by the German Bundestag, and the new German government has committed to doing more.

ABOUT THE BRAVE MOVEMENT

The Brave Movement is a new, soon to be launched, powerful and global survivor-led movement to end sexual violence against children. Supported by a $10M grant from the Oak Foundation, this advocacy movement is gearing up to become a powerful global force for change–beginning with G7 countries.

The Brave Movement is mobilizing survivor networks and survivor leaders from all G7 countries. This G7 Survivors Task Force has representatives from every G7 country and is chaired by two survivor leaders, Wibke Müller from the German Survivors Council, and Matthias Katsch, spokesperson of the Survivors Initiative ECKIGER Tisch and member of the Independent Inquiry into CSAE in Germany. Our mobilization and advocacy efforts will include an April Survivor's Summit and Global Call to Action.

Contact the Brave Newsroom

If you are a journalist or media outlet seeking further information about the Brave Movement, please contact our Brave Newsroom: press@bravemovement.org

Our Brave Newsroom supports the movement by disseminating survivor calls for action, recruiting advocates, and galvanizing supporters all over the world to end childhood sexual violence.

'The invisible pandemic': Advocate says more can be done to prevent childhood sexual abuse By Michael Albans, Bennington Banner

Advocacy groups, like Prevent Child Abuse Vermont, aim to ensure children live happy and free from abuse. The group has a trove of information, advice and programs for parents, teachers and anyone committed to ending childhood sexual abuse. Visit pcavt.org for more information, or call 800-CHILDREN.

Michael Albans — Bennington Banner

COVID-19 has created a “perfect storm” for unprecedented levels of childhood sexual abuse in Vermont and across the nation.

Victims, trapped at home with their abusers and physically separated from the trained eyes of teachers and administrators, are also spending unprecedented amounts of time online, increasing the risk of sexual targeting and exploitation by predators.

Evidence shows that during public health emergencies, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, child sexual abuse risks increase because of stressors, and financial and social support loss. According to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, at the height of COVID, the amount of known sexual offenses reported online nearly doubled. Unfortunately, many in the fight feel this serious problem might not go away anytime soon.

Linda Johnson, executive director of Prevent Child Abuse Vermont, urges parents and the community to be aware of the situation, study ways to recognize abuse, and connect with legislators to help pass three current bills that address some of the problems.

“The best thing that can happen is to prevent this from happening in the first place,” said Johnson. “Tens of thousands of children are victims of sexual abuse and exploitation in the U.S. every year — in their homes, communities and online. Child sexual abuse remains Vermont’s most frequently reported and substantiated form of child abuse.”

The Banner spoke with Johnson about some of the issues stemming from the pandemic, the isolation many children of abuse face right now and what Vermonters can do about it.

“The number one thing to understand is that children cannot protect themselves from child sexual abuse,” Johnson said. “They have complicated, dependent relationships with those who offend them. They depend on those people for food, clothing, education, shelter, for life itself. Many of these kids might fear a parent going to jail, and everyone else in the family might be furious with them because maybe an income stream is gone. They might lose their home, have to change schools, their lives disrupted, not to mention the shame and embarrassment they feel. It becomes a complex, lifetime issue for some of these kids.”

The average age of a person coming forward to report sexual abuse is 51, according to Johnson. Many can never reveal the hidden secrets that might have happened long ago.

Teachers — the number one reporters of sexual abuse — are mandated reporters. Kids depend on teachers, administrators, school nurses and counselors in school to check in with them and report abuse if they suspect it. They don’t have to know it; they just have to suspect it. That can make a big difference.

During the pandemic, kids had unprecedented access to the internet. “It’s a required tool for school and communication with friends and family right now, but kids don’t always use the internet for what we protective adults have in mind for them. Sometimes they wander around in there, discovering, using their curiosity, inquiring. It’s a tool that can take them anywhere they want to go. Unfortunately, online predators are extremely aware of that.”

Johnson feels that parents need to know what their children are doing online, and that parents are responsible for knowing that their child is safe.

“They have to have an understanding from day one with their child that they will be looking at that content from time to time. It doesn’t mean kids won’t hide things, but you have to make an effort to see what’s happening.”

Johnson also urges parents to talk to their kids about the dangers of sharing information on social media and gaming online. The person you’re gaming with right now might appear to be an 11-year-old kid in their profile photo, but that might not be the reality.

“There are all of these complexities in our world that were never there before,” Johnson said. “For too many kids, it might feel like really good attention, that these people are ‘really listening to me’ or ‘they are really interested in me.’ Most sexual abuse of children, when it’s physical, is not violent. It can be very confusing for a child.”

She said it can be hard for an attention-starved child to betray that person who seems to care about them and give up the emotional benefits and time that no one else supplies.

 “The biggest thing parents can do is to keep an open relationship with their child,” according to Johnson. “Listen to your child, communicate, and observe them. If you see changes in their demeanor or their ability to sleep or eat or changes to any of their normal routines, spend some time with them. Even just sitting in the dark, or talking on a car ride. There’s a chance that things will be shared.”

Prevent Child Abuse Vermont has three school-based curriculums available for kids that are used throughout Vermont schools. The group’s developmentally appropriate, trauma-informed programming has been used to train child care providers, teachers, students, parents, social workers, medical professionals and others since 1990 and has resulted in the marked decrease of 71 percent in victims and 77 percent in youth who have sexually abused younger children, according to their website.

There are three bills moving through the Vermont Legislature that address human trafficking, define “grooming” for the purpose of sexually abusing a child and end the possibility of forced child marriages in Vermont, Johnson said. “They need to be supported.”

The three bills — Human Trafficking (S.103), the Grooming of Children (H.659), and Ending Child Marriage (H.631) — would go a long way in addressing these particular issues and finding a way forward, Johnson said. The Senate bill, in committee, provides limited immunity from prosecution to a reporting victim or witness to a crime that arose from the person’s involvement in prostitution or human trafficking.

“This is important because people who might know would most likely be hesitant to report it for fear of prosecution,” Johnson said. “It removes barriers in sharing information that could help a child, whose life maybe is at stake.”

The first of two House bills, also in committee, proposes expanding the statute prohibiting luring a child and grooming behaviors intended to facilitate sexual contact with a child.

“This bill defines what that particular behavior is,” Johnson said. “Not only can a child be groomed, but sometimes it’s the whole family or even the whole community that can be groomed, as well. This bill would help make it easier to identify this behavior and to let people trust their guts when they witness these things happening.”

The second House bill proposes to raise the age at which a person can obtain a civil marriage to 18 years of age, with no exceptions. Under current Vermont law, if you are between 16 and 18, you can marry but need the consent of a parent or guardian. Vermont law also allows individuals under 16 to marry with special permission from the court.

“This bill would protect young people from marrying prematurely, opening the door to a lot of misery, and loss of education and potential before their lives have had a chance even to start,” Johnson said.

“We have to stay vigilant. Twenty-five percent of all girls will have been sexually abused by the age of 18. If all those grownups who were victims had spots on their faces, you couldn’t go to the grocery store without seeing dots everywhere. It’s the invisible pandemic,” she said.

The good news is that with the proper help, there is healing, and there is recovery. The faster the abuse is discovered, the easier the recovery. However, the closer to the child the abuser is, the tougher it is.

“We are ahead of the curve here in Vermont with the saturation of these preventive programs in our schools and with parents,” Johnson said. “However, child sexual abuse remains the number one form of child abuse and neglect, even though we’ve been able to reduce it. I think the awareness of the #MeToo movement that we have the right to control our bodies, to say no and to set boundaries has helped. I do think this is a new day.”

“Children believe what they’re told. It’s what we’ve drilled into them. ‘Listen to grandpa.’ ‘Listen to the babysitter.’ ‘Do what your teacher tells you.’ We tell children to listen to anyone who’s older than them. Mostly we want them to, but if something is awry, we need to tell them that they can tell us about anything, and we will listen. There’s no simple, magic wand here.”

And whether those children ever tell us what happened or not, Johnson said, we need to make sure they understand that it was never their fault.

Prevent Child Abuse Vermont has a trove of information, advice and programs for parents, teachers and anyone committed to ending childhood sexual abuse. Visit pcavt.org for more information, or call 1-800-CHILDREN.

Michael Albans

We Can Take More Steps to Prevent Child Sexual Abuse

We Can Take More Steps to Prevent Child Sexual Abuse, Vermont

Tens of thousands of children are victims of sexual abuse and exploitation in the U.S. every year — in their homes, communities and online. COVID-19 has created a perfect storm for unprecedented levels of abuse by trapping children at home with their abusers and children are also spending an unprecedented amount of time online, increasing their risk to sexual targeting and exploitation. In December of 2020, a CDC report called for the immediate implementation of proven strategies to prevent child sexual abuse, as evidence has shown ​​that public health emergencies exacerbate child sexual abuse risks because of increased stressors and loss of financial and social supports. Child sexual abuse remains Vermont’s most frequently reported and substantiated form of child abuse and Prevent Child Abuse Vermont’s (PCAVT) proven strategies continue to drive down the incidence of child sexual abuse and improve outcomes for the children of our state.

PCAVT’s developmentally-appropriate, trauma-informed programming is used to train childcare providers, teachers, students, parents, social workers, medical professionals and others since 1990 and has resulted in the marked decrease of 71% in victims and 77% in youth who have sexually abused younger children. Though this success is unparalleled, we need to do more! The Vermont Legislature has the opportunity to pass bills into law this year that address human trafficking, define “grooming” for the purpose of sexually abusing a child, and end the possibility of forced child marriages in Vermont.

These crucial steps will decrease the likelihood of child sexual abuse occurring in Vermont and strengthen the path to intervention, healing and justice, should it occur.  More than ever, this is an opportune time to improve Vermont’s legal system and the protection it provides for children and adolescents from sexual abuse. 

Please go onto the VT Legislature’s website and look for the bill regarding Human Trafficking S.103; the Grooming of Children H.659; and Ending Child Marriage H.631. Read these bills and contact your legislators to let them know NOW is the time to increase protections for children through passage of these bills into law.

Now is the time to use your voice to improve the lives of Vermont’s children.

For Children,

Linda Johnson, Executive Director

Prevent Child Abuse Vermont

PCAVT is Here for You This Holiday Season

A Message from PCAA's Dr. Merrick on Investing in Children & Families through the Build Back Better Act

A Message from Dr. Merrick on Investing in Children & Families through the Build Back Better Act

Prevent Child Abuse America supports the following historic investments in families included in the Build Back Better Act.

• Affordable high-quality childcare: the act helps states expand access to millions of children per year and makes early learning options affordable for all families. Investing in high-quality childcare is one of the most effective ways to break the cycle of poverty, boost our economy, and keep parents employed while ensuring children develop the skills they need for success in school and life.

• Universal preschool: the act expands access to high-quality preschool for two additional years during a critical period of child development. Access to preschool and family engagement programs are shown to positively impact children’s cognitive and social skills and school achievement, and decrease conduct problems, as well as reduce child abuse and neglect.

• The child tax credit (CTC): the act extends the child tax credit through 2022 and makes full refundability permanent. Already, the expanded CTC has reached 36 million families across the country and lifted 3 million children out of poverty, providing much-needed support for parents struggling to put food on the table, pay mortgage or rent, and make ends meet.

• Paid family & medical leave: the act provides payments for eligible people who take leave from work due to a serious health condition, care for an immediate family member with a serious health condition, birth or adoption of a child, or the foreign deployment of a family member in the armed forces. Paid family and medical leave generate substantial health benefits for children and families, including promoting health equity, higher rates of maternal health, lower rates of family stressors, reductions in hospitalizations for abusive head trauma, and allowing employees to meet their personal and family health care needs while fulfilling work responsibilities.

Each of these initiatives provide important resources that strengthen families and aid in the prevention of child abuse and neglect. For too long in our nation’s history, these programs have been inaccessible for far too many. These policy objectives are within our reach, and now is the time to level the playing field for children and families through the adoption of such programs.

We must work together to support and pass these transformative investments in children and families in the Build Back Better Act. They are essential to ensure that children, families, and entire communities thrive—today, tomorrow, and for generations to come. Please join us in our advocacy efforts in support of these programs by linking to our easy-to-use action alert below, and contacting your member of Congress today.

Together, we can prevent child abuse, America…because childhood lasts a lifetime.

CONTACT CONGRESS

 Warmest regards,

 Dr. Melissa Merrick
President and CEO, Prevent Child Abuse America

Pandemic Creates New Challenges to Preventing Child Sexual Abuse

By Marcie Hambrick, PhD, MSW, Director of Child Sexual Abuse Prevention, Prevent Child Abuse Vermont

There was a sharp decline in reports of child abuse during the pandemic, which indicated that some abuse was likely going unreported as children’s contact with teachers was affected by shut downs and remote learning. It has been an unprecedented time of stress for families struggling to remain healthy, afford basic expenses, and care for children at home for extended periods. Additionally, children have had more screen time for learning and recreation. These factors have increased the risk of children experiencing sexual abuse.

Prior to the pandemic, one in four girls and one in 13 boys were experiencing this trauma, an alarming rate. Many might not know that this type of trauma has lifelong health and mental health detriments such as:

• cancer

• hypertension

• heart disease

• depression

• substance use disorders

• and relationship problems.

Most incidences of child sexual abuse are preceded by a period of grooming. Groomers are skilled at building trust with families, organizations, or children to get access. You can prevent this kind of harm by learning the signs of grooming:

• telling children adult content stories or jokes

• insisting that children give hugs or kisses even when the child seems reluctant

• seeking one to one time with one particular child

• not allowing children their desired privacy

• allowing children to break rules

• asking children to keep secrets

If we see other adults crossing boundaries with children, we have a number of ways we can respond. We can let the person who has crossed a boundary know that we don’t like that kind of behavior. This does not have to be confrontational, because all of us have crossed a boundary without meaning to in our lives. We can have empathy that the person may genuinely not know that their behavior is not optimal. We can suggest a better way of behaving around children, and then watch to see if they take our advice. If the behavior is repetitive or escalating, we may report to a supervisor in a work context or let a caring parent or caregiver know of our concerns. Certainly, people who cross boundaries with children, for whatever reason, should not have alone time with children. We can ask our organization to have policies that discourage or prohibit one to one time with children as a transparency measure. We can encourage open communication in our families and communities about safe practices as well.

The good news is that child sexual abuse is preventable! We can work together to keep children safe from boundary crossing and harm. If adults take responsibility to address concerning behavior from other adults or older youth, children will have homes, neighborhoods, schools, and sports that are safe and promote their well-being!

To find out more or if you wish to volunteer, attend a training, become a trained trainer, or contribute to our mission please reach out and call Prevent Child Abuse Vermont, at 802-229-5724

National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) to Host Free Webinars

This year, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) has hosted two free webinars with national experts to raise awareness about how law enforcement can search for and support children on the autism spectrum. On October 27, 2021, at 10am EDT, we are facilitating a conversation about Resources for Caregivers of Children on the Autism Spectrum.

Our presenters will provide tools and resources for a proactive approach to help ensure the safety, security, and well-being of these children. Joy Paluska will share NCMEC’s data and free resources specific to children on the autism spectrum. Lauren Coffren from NCMEC’s Exploited Children Division will discuss online enticement and NCMEC’s resources to combat these issues. Travis Akins, founder of Growth Through Opportunity (GTO) Cadets will discuss his organization’s training for first responders and how these programs teach job, life, and social skills for youth with disabilities such as autism spectrum disorder while also providing first responders firsthand exposure on how to enhance positive encounters. Deputy Sheriff Greg Jones from San Bernardino County will discuss his law enforcement organization’s Safe Return program which is designed to assist Law Enforcement agencies during contacts with community members who have children on the autism spectrum to ensure their safe return if they wander or bolt from their environment. The goal is for parents and caregivers to have as much information as possible to advocate for these children and youth.

This online seminar is free and open to the public. If you would like to attend, please Register here by Monday, October 25. If you are not able to join us live the recording will be hosted on NCMEC CONNECT. If you have any questions, please reach out to Joy Paluska in NCMEC’s Missing Children Division by emailing her at jepaluska@ncmec.org.

A Fall Message from Dr. Melissa Merrick

Happy First Days of Fall!

Can you believe it’s been nearly a month and a half since our national conference? Inasmuch as that seems long ago, it also feels very close because so many of the issues we shared and explored together as a community—prioritizing equity and social justice, engaging lived expertise in our work, providing concrete and economic supports to families, and preventing child sexual abuse, among many others—emerge regularly in my continuing discussions both within and outside our network of partners and collaborators, not to mention in the media and in the halls of Congress.

To all of the nearly 2,000 attendees who presented and participated in 100+ conference sessions, I want to extend my heartfelt gratitude—without you, our first virtual conference could not have been the tremendous success it was. Additionally, I want to remind you that you can revisit your favorite sessions, or watch sessions you were unable to attend, through 5:00 PM ET this Friday, October 1.

Similarly, in case you missed the live webinar last month, my conversation with PCAA board member and renowned brain and trauma expert Dr. Bruce Perry about his new book, What Happened to You? Conversations on Trauma, Resilience, and Healing, which he co-authored with Oprah Winfrey, is available on our website through the end of this week.

Lastly, on the policy front, we’ve updated our resources on Family First Prevention Services Act (FFPSA) and the child tax credit, both of which you can find on our Public Policy landing page (scroll down to Issues We’re Focused on Now). I encourage you to stay up to date on these and other valuable resources in our online library, where you’ll find a wide variety of tools that help to propel our work forward.

Together, we can prevent child abuse, America…because childhood lasts a lifetime.

Warmest regards,

Dr. Melissa Merrick
President and CEO, Prevent Child Abuse America

Examining the FBI’s Handling of the Larry Nassar Investigation: A Message from Dr. Merrick in Response to the Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing

Courage. Bravery. Resilience. On Wednesday, September, 15, Olympic gymnasts McKayla Maroney, Simone Biles, Maggie Nichols, and Aly Raisman testified in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee regarding the FBI’s egregious handling of their initial reports of sexual abuse by then USA gymnastics team doctor, Larry Nassar. Their strength and courage is paving the way for other victims of sexual abuse to come forward, bring abuse into the light of day, and highlighting the gross failures of our youth serving systems in protecting children from harm. To these women and the countless other victims of sexual abuse, we see you, we hear you, we believe you, and we are doing all that we can to ensure that sexual abuse never occurs in the first place.

At Prevent Child Abuse America, we believe that the prevention of child sexual abuse is an adult responsibility. That means that adults, youth serving organizations, and communities must acknowledge the reality of sexual abuse and must work diligently to put into place policies and practices that minimize opportunities for its occurrence. As detailed in a recent report authored by the Enough Abuse Campaign and Prevent Child Abuse America, raising public awareness, training adults, enacting screening procedures for coaches, volunteers, and any other adult coming into contact with children, and closing loopholes that allow perpetrators of sexual abuse to avoid accountability are some of the ways in which states can help to create the conditions for safe and thriving children.

Together, we CAN prevent child abuse, America—because childhood lasts a lifetime.

Dr. Melissa Merrick

President & CEO

Prevent Child Abuse Vermont Programs to be Studied by University Researchers

Watch WFFF-TV interview with Linda Johnson

A grant in the amount of $1.6 million awarded by the CDC Injury Center will fund this scientific study for a four year period.

“We are honored to be one of three prevention programs in the United States to be chosen as worthy of scientific, rigorous study. This is so gratifying. We could not be happier!”, said Linda E Johnson, Executive Director, Prevent Child Abuse Vermont.

This grant will allow PCAVT to have a rigorous study of the efficacy of their child sexual abuse prevention programs for children in grades Pre-K through 5, Care for Kids© and We Care Elementary©. The primary Investigators are Beth Molnar, PhD and John Holton, PhD, of Northeastern University and The University of Illinois at Chicago, respectively. Safe Shores, Inc. in Washington, DC, will implement PCAVT’s programs to prevent child sexual abuse for this rigorous scientific evaluation at 16 public charter schools, over 4 years. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children will also partner in the study.

Grant funds will become available before the end of 2021, and the schools will begin implementing the program, titled The Healthy Relationships Project©, in 6-month intervals in a stepped wedge randomized trial design study. Within 1 year, the expectation is that there will be an increase in knowledge and skills gained by parents, caregivers, and educators regarding child sexual abuse, how to prevent it, an increase in students’ positive socio-emotional skills, and a decrease in the reports of child sexual abuse for children in the schools that are using this program.

The Healthy Relationships Project© is a primary prevention curriculum that is developmentally appropriate, trauma informed, and comprised of both victim and victimization prevention. It was written and has been delivered by PCAVT since the mid-1990s and shared across 30 states, including statewide across Vermont. Since its implementation, substantiated cases in Vermont dropped 72% between 1992 and 2020, and the number of child perpetrators dropped 77% in that same time. Given this promising preliminary data, this curriculum is expected to perform well under this rigorous scientific evaluation. This study will move the science of child sexual abuse prevention research forward, as few approaches to prevention have ever been evaluated in this way.

The mission of PCAVT is to promote and support healthy relationships within families, schools, and communities to eliminate child abuse. Serving Vermont began as Parents Anonymous of VT in 1976 and has grown to have a helpline and 3 main programmatic areas: Child Sexual Abuse Prevention, Family Support Programs, and the Safe Environments for Infants and Toddlers Program. PCAVT partners with over 250 organizations across Vermont, and many more both nationally and internationally. PCAVT’s programs are skills based, teaching adults how to nurture healthy development in children, and emphasize adult responsibility in keeping children safe.

For more than 20 years, CDC’s Injury Center has helped protect Americans from injury and violence. They work to understand how injury and violence impact all of us and what we can do to prevent it.

Learn more about The Healthy Relationships Project

Mass. sex offender charged after contacting Central Vermont girl

Originally posted by Mike Donoghue in the Waterbury Roundabout, Sept. 4, 2021

Vermont authorities are reminding parents to discuss with children the risks of improper connections with unknown adults over social media following a serious case involving a Washington County child and a high-risk registered sex offender from Massachusetts.

Chayanne Nieves, 23, of Lowell, Mass., was recently charged in U.S. District Court in Massachusetts with one count of receiving child pornography over Snapchat based on a criminal investigation that began with state police detectives at the Middlesex barracks. 

It turned out Nieves is considered moderate to high risk to reoffend, according to the Sex Offender Registry Board in Massachusetts.

Nieves communicated with the pre-teen Vermont girl on Snapchat between Nov. 30 and Dec. 3, 2020, and eventually threatened and extorted the child, according to Homeland Security Investigations, which later joined the multi-agency investigation.

Col. Matthew Birmingham, director of the Vermont State Police, said cases like this continue to show that online predators are looking to exploit and victimize children from Vermont and beyond. "We encourage parents to have an open dialogue with their children about the dangers that can be present online and through apps on their devices," Birmingham said. "Parents also should be vigilant in keeping up with their child’s online communications, be aware of any concerning incidents or changes in behavior, and report any potential suspicious or criminal conduct to the authorities."

Nieves pressured the victim to send nude pictures of herself to him and later threatened to post them if she did not take off her clothes during video calls in which he would perform a sex act on himself, HSI Special Agent Meghan Ronayne said in court papers.

Birmingham said the case surfaced when a woman alerted Vermont State Police on Dec. 3 about her daughter creating a Snapchat account and sending inappropriate photographs to the man.

Detective Trooper Isaac Merriam began the months-long investigation following clues on the internet that would eventually lead to Nieves. Staff in the state police computer crime section in Waterbury participated in the search that ended in Lowell, Mass. and authorities there were contacted.

The Vermont State Police obtained a search warrant for the Snapchat account being used by the man and found four pictures of the girl, Ronayne reported.

Merriam said pictures are supposed to disappear from certain computer programs such as Snapchat, but evidence showed at least one screen shot was saved in this case.

The account also had captured a couple of message exchanges, including one conversation at about 12:35 in the morning. In one conversation where Nieves made  demands of the girl, she responded, “I wish I never met u I’m serious,” the court affidavit notes.

Ronayne said she subsequently obtained a federal search warrant for Nieves' apartment at 156 Pleasant St. in Lowell. The search happened on Aug. 19 and Homeland Security agents, along with local police, found significant evidence against Nieves, she said. During the search, Nieves also confirmed the Snapchat account used to communicate with the Vermont child was his, officials said.

Nieves' criminal record includes a 2018 conviction in Middlesex Superior Court for two counts of indecent assault and battery on a child under 14, Ronayne said in her affidavit.

She said he also has a 2017 case involving charges of assault and battery and open and gross lewdness. She said that case started as an assault with intent to rape after he followed a woman on a public sidewalk with his pants down and committing a sex act, while yelling at her what he wanted to do.

A third case is pending in Lowell District Court for open and gross lewdness on claims he exposed himself and committed a sex act in front of a female neighbor who was outside her home, Ronayne wrote.

U.S. Magistrate Judge David H. Hennessy agreed with a request from the government that Nieves be held without bail pending trial. The defense did not object, but can later seek release.

Based on his criminal history, if convicted, Nieves faces a minimum sentence of 15 years in prison and a maximum of 40 years. Once discharged from prison, he would also be placed on federal supervised release for up to life. A fine of up to $250,000 also is possible.

To see Prevent Child Abuse Vermont’s Child Sexual Abuse Prevention Trainings, click here: https://www.pcavt.org/upcoming-child-sexual-abuse-prevention-training

“What Happened to You?” A Dialogue with Dr. Bruce Perry

Oprah Winfrey and Prevent Child Abuse America board member Dr. Bruce Perry are working to shift our approach to trauma and adversity in their new book, What Happened to You?: Conversations on Trauma, Resilience, and Healing.

Through deeply personal conversations, Prevent Child Abuse America board member and renowned brain and trauma expert Dr. Bruce Perry and Oprah Winfrey offer a groundbreaking and profound shift from asking "What's wrong with you?" to "What happened to you?" Focusing on understanding people, behavior, and ourselves, this new book opens the door to resilience and healing in a proven, powerful way.

Please join us August 31, 4:00–6:00 PM (Central), for a conversation between Prevent Child Abuse America president & CEO, Dr. Melissa Merrick and Dr. Perry, who will discuss the new book and dive into core issues of this important work for the prevention of child abuse and neglect. We also encourage you to share/forward this invitation broadly with partners who would enjoy and benefit from this conversation.

REGISTER NOW

 “Through this lens we can build a renewed sense of personal self-worth and ultimately recalibrate our responses to circumstances, situations, and relationships. It is, in other words, the key to reshaping our very lives.”
—Oprah Winfrey

A Message from Prevent Child Abuse America's Dr. Melissa Merrick

It’s hard to believe two years have passed since I joined the PCA America team, and I’d like to take this opportunity to briefly reflect on the pair of exceptional years we’ve just experienced—and endured—together. 
 

In addition to a global health pandemic that forced us to isolate from—and, in too many instances, prematurely say goodbye to—family, friends, and colleagues, we experienced another pandemic of overt structural racism and resultant social unrest and demands for change. Under this pall of anxiety and uncertainty, we struggled to maintain our own equilibrium, piecing together child and elder care, healthcare, remote learning, finances, and makeshift workspaces and schedules, among countless other ad hoc arrangements. We sought solace in what personal connectedness we could muster from Zoom meetings, virtual happy hours, and other digitally facilitated visits and social engagements. And we worked feverishly under these difficult circumstances to continue to serve the children and families whose needs didn’t relent and often intensified.

But for all the challenges and deficiencies these years doled out, we persevered. We sought—and found—the silver linings, the half-full glasses, and new ways to turn lemons into lemonade. In ways that may have not been possible otherwise, we were able to articulate the urgency of our mission and the unambiguous need to create the contexts and conditions required to ensure that children and families thrive. Masks and physical distancing became powerful analogs to help people understand what a public health approach to preventing child abuse and neglect looks like. We found novel ways to sustain, and even extend, meaningful relationships with parents and caregivers. And, above all, we maintained, projected, and instilled hope and resilience.

For this, I am eternally indebted to all of you. When my own reserves of patience, compassion, and grace were running low, I inevitably found not one, but numerous examples of those traits on full display within our community, helping to restore my sense of calm and composure. The change-making power of partnerships, among our valued state chapters, HFA affiliates, community and family voices, and cohort of mission-aligned collaborators, have been successful in assuring we get to the root causes and solutions of childhood adversity.

I look forward to seeing you all at our upcoming national conference where we’ll reunite, reengage, commiserate, laugh, and ultimately celebrate the ways we’ve been transformed, emerging stronger, savvier, and more energized to continue the important work that unites us every day.

Together, we can prevent child abuse, America…because childhood lasts a lifetime.