GREENFIELD — As a social worker at Maxwell Intermediate School, Scott Stroud knows that childhood isn’t always perfect, and that the world isn’t always safe.
The terrible truth is that about one in four girls and one in 13 boys experience sexual abuse at some point in childhood, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
To help students better protect themselves against that stark reality, Stroud shared a child abuse prevention program with students last week called Body Boundaries.
The program is designed to teach children the importance of body boundaries and personal safety rules, and what to do if those rules are broken.
All four Hancock County school systems offer similar programs each school year, as mandated by state law.
In the spring of 2017, Indiana Senate Bill 355 was passed, requiring all public schools in the state to provide all students in grades K-12 with child abuse and child sexual abuse prevention education.
Stroud said the Body Boundaries program he presented to fourth-, fifth- and sixth-graders last week plays an important role in teaching children how to recognize and report abuse.
“Unfortunately, child sexual abuse is a realty, and a lot of times it’s being done by someone the child knows. It’s not just the creepy people in a white box van,” he said.
“We make children know what abuse is, and that they know that you always tell someone about the abuse, even if it’s being done by someone they know.”
The Body Boundaries program — designed by Aspire Indiana Health, a nonprofit health-care provider — teaches children the five following safety rules:
-No one is allowed to touch or look at my private body parts
-I’ll not touch or look at anyone else’s private body parts
-No one is allowed to take pictures of my private body parts
-I will not keep any secrets about my private body parts
-I will always tell if someone breaks one of these rules.
Jennifer Tanksley, a social worker at Greenfield Intermediate School and Harris Elementary School, said the rules are a great way to lay the groundwork for teaching kids right from wrong.
“The program teaches children about their different body parts, and that it’s OK for them to ask for help if some type of interaction doesn’t feel right. It’s giving them a voice and an opportunity to be able to ask a lot of questions and to look out for their own safety,” said Tanksley, who will present the program Jan. 5-6 at Greenfield Intermediate and Harris.
Stroud and Tanksley were trained to lead the Body Boundaries program by staff members from Aspire Indiana.
According to the nonprofit’s website, Body Boundaries teaches children core lessons on body safety by teaching them what to do if faced with abuse, instructing children that they should tell a trusted adult if someone is harming them, and teaching them that inappropriate touches are never the fault of the child.
The program can be customized to be developmentally appropriate for children of different ages, based on criteria determined by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and by the Gunderson National Child Protection Training Center.
After each training session with students, school counselors and other staff members are available to talk to those who may want to express safety concerns or who simply want to talk.
“If a child wants to talk we are there to listen to them,” said Tanksley, although she couldn’t say whether the program has uncovered actual cases of abuse due to privacy concerns.
Stroud and fellow staff members were also available for students after the Body Boundaries class took place at Maxwell Intermediate School last week.
A letter went home to parents on Nov. 30 giving them the option of having their child not attend the program, an option that is offered at all Hancock County schools.
“Some parents tell us they feel they’ve already adequately covered the topic with their children at home, but they thank us for the materials we provide,” Tanksley said.
Superintendent Jack Parker said that take-home materials are also available through the Mt. Vernon school system’s body safety program, which is offered through the Indiana Center for Prevention of Youth Abuse & Suicide.
The Eastern Hancock schools use the same program, said Adam Barton, principal at Eastern Hancock High School and Middle School.
