1. Brooke Harrison
PY622: Final Paper
Advocacy for Child Sexual Abuse
I have lived in the same community my entire life. The majority of the people in this
community are white, upper-middle class, Republican, and conservative. Most people keep their
business to themselves and pretend there is nothing wrong in the community. It can be hard to
find people that are willing to talk about things that could be wrong within our community. A
topic that I noticed considerable secrecy around is child abuse. This is something that is seen in
newspapers every day, so I wondered why we aren’t talking about it. This is why I choose to
learn about and advocate for victims of child sexual abuse. The idea of child sexual abuse seems
so foreign to most people; they could never believe that it would happen to them or their
children. People learn to trust others, as they should, and never suspect their friends or family
members would commit something as atrocious as child sexual abuse. This is why we preach
the idea of “stranger-danger” to our children and have difficulty with open discussions around
sex. However, this is a topic that we need to break out of secrecy.
Child sexual abuse has been found across all socioeconomic and ethnic groups; however,
there are some risk factors to consider. There is a common belief that girls are more likely to be
victimized. This is partially true with statistics finding that one in four girls and one in six boys
are sexually abused before the age of 18. Girls are 2.5 to 3 times more likely to be victimized
than boys; however, male victimization does account for 22% to 29% of all child sexual abuse
(Leeb, Paulozzi, Melanson, Simon, & Arias, 2008). This is important to note because older boys
are not as likely to disclose and they are less likely to be asked by professionals and parents.
Child sexual abuse is found to rise with age with statistics like: 10% between 0 and 3 years old,

2. 28.4% between 4 and 7 years old, 25.5% between 8 and 11 years old, and 35.9% 12 years old
and older (Putnam, 2003). It is also important to consider that children with disabilities, such as
blindness, deafness, and Intellectual Disabilities, are at an increased risk of being victimized.
This is explained by their dependency, institutional care, and communication difficulties. A
parent with mental illness also increases the risk of child abuse victimization (Putnam, 2003).
We can keep all of these statistics in mind when noticing warning signs in children.
The statistics really blew me away because it solidified how much advocacy is needed in
this area. This can really be seen in statistics and myths surrounding perpetrators and reporting.
For example, 93% of the time the child knows his/her abuser, contrary to the common “stranger
danger” speech we give our children. Of that percentage 34.2% are family members (Leeb et al.,
2008). Children in single parent homes are more likely to be abused. This is especially seen
when there are multiple men brought into the home or living with a step-father. Girls in those
situations are four times more likely to be abused. These factors can be a large reason why
children do not come forward. They may feel scared of the ramifications of telling someone if
they are abused by someone they know. They feel scared that people are going to think they are
lying. Unfortunately, believing a child is lying is a common response to allegations of sexual
abuse. However, fabricated false reports constitute for only 1% to 4% of cases (Leeb, 2008).
The majority of these reports are from parents and teachers, while children fabricate sexual abuse
less than 1% of the time. Pennsylvania is amongst one of the higher states as far as child sexual
abuse prevalence. In 2012, 2,261 child sexual abuse cases were reported in Pennsylvania. These
cases account for 66.2% of all child maltreatment cases which includes, neglect, physical abuse,
psychological maltreatment, sexual abuse, and unknown. This is the highest percentage among
49 states and the District of Columbia (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2012).

3. It is also important to keep in mind that less than 10% of child sexual abuse is reported to the
police. Pennsylvania clearly has a ways to go in the prevention and treatment of child sexual
abuse. Advocating for this cause is a great way to start. Having citizens create awareness that
this problem exists in our community shows our government and legal system that we want
change. We want action in this area and it needs to happen now.
Child sexual abuse has a lot of false information surrounding it, which can mainly be
blamed on our media and lack of conversation on the topic. The media plays a large part in our
beliefs of gender roles and sexuality. The media often portrays young girls as being seductive,
which may alter beliefs around their sexual maturity (Cromer & Goldsmith, 2010). The media
also portrays men as being lucky if an older woman is attracted to him. This is often why this
kind of abuse is overlooked. When the media discusses a story of female teacher having an
affair with a high-school boy, they don’t often view the boy as a victim. Sometimes they even
suggested he enjoyed it. This story of a teacher seducing a student has been in the media more
and more over the past few years. Historically, schools are notorious for concealing child sexual
abuse by teachers (Cromer & Goldsmith, 2010). This can be said for religious institutions as
well. These are places that children should feel safe. This is another reason why advocacy in
this area is so important.
All of these statistics are extremely upsetting and a bit daunting. However, there have
been and continue to be great strides in getting this topic talked about. Children model their
behavior after the adults in their lives. Any adult in a young child’s life, whether a parent,
teacher, coach, doctor, needs to model open communication. If children feel safe enough to talk
to an adult in their lives about sexual abuse and receive the help they need, further victimization
and difficulties with psychosocial problems can be greatly decreased. The statistics seem to

4. indicate that we may be doing this more. For example, overall rates of victimization declined by
3.3 percent from 2008 to 2012. That means there were 30,000 fewer victims in 2012 compared
to 2008 (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2012). We are also seeing a great
response from the community and child protective services (CPS). Since 2008, overall rates of
children who received CPS response increased by 4.7 percent, meaning an additional 107,000
children (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2012). Communities are stepping up
by creating Child Advocate Centers (CAC). Children who came forward about their abuse used
to have to tell their story over and over again to multiple people. CAC’s simplify this process
and creating a multidisciplinary investigative advocacy team. This means the child does not
have to tell their story to multiple people and can be in a safe comfortable space while doing it.
CAC’s are based on the belief of looking after the child and the family first (Cross et al., 2008).
Chester County’s Child Advocacy Center opened a few years ago and it is only a block away
from CVC. The CAC often refer children and their families to receive counseling at CVC.
While there have been great strides throughout history there is a much longer journey ahead.
I had many questions I wanted answers to as I set out on my community advocacy
journey. One thing I was particularly interested in was the training of parents, police officers,
teachers, and mandated reporters. I wanted to know what kind of training is offered for these
populations. Is there somewhere parents can learn how to notice warning signs in their child and
how to talk to them about it? Do police officers go through training on how to properly question
a child who has been abused? How are teachers trained to deal with these situations? I wanted
to know what resources are in the community for child who has been abused, as well as, their
families. Do police officers refer them to these locations? Lastly, I wanted to see how this is
handled within the justice system. Are perpetrators typically brought to trial? This is a topic that

5. is usually handled quietly within the community, so I want to break the lid open on it. I wanted
to find those resources out in the community and see how my community to handling this
tragedy.
I was given the opportunity to find many of those community resources on my advocacy
journey. First, I met a woman named Maureen Martinez who founded an organization called
Justice4PAKids. This organization was founded in an effort to break the secrecy and start the
conversation about child sexual abuse. Maureen noticed the horrible secrecy that occurs in
Chester County, especially in the more affluent areas. With having three children of her own she
wanted to make sure parents, teachers, police officers, and anyone that came into contact with
children knew how to talk about these tough issues and see the warning signs. They advocate
through their speaker series, 5k run, motorcycle fundraiser, partnering with others in the
community, and much more. Maureen invited me to attend one of their presentations a few
weeks later.
Justice4PAKids holds many events to advocate for victims of child sexual abuse in the
community. One of the events is called the speaker series. They have a list of volunteer
speakers, ranging from survivors to lawyers to doctors, who will come speak at any company or
organization. I had the opportunity to hear a presentation from Elizabeth Pitts located at St.
Paul’s Church in Exton. Elizabeth Pitts holds many different titles including, associated director
of Investigations for Swathmore College, former Deputy District Attorney for Chester County,
guest lecturer, faculty member of Pennsylvania Child First forensic interview training program,
and Co-Director of the Chester County Children’s Advocacy Center. Ms. Pitts spoke of her time
as a D.A. in the Child Abuse Unit as well as her work now. She gave a passionate, at times
angry, speech ranging from the horrifying statistics of child sexual abuse to what can be done.

6. One of Ms. Pitts’ jobs is to train police officers, social workers, and prosecutors in child
interviewing techniques as well as see the warning signs in children. Some of the warning signs
Ms. Pitts discussed were nightmares and sleeping problems, becoming overly secretive,
withdrawn or clingy, sudden personality changes, mood swings, regressing to younger behaviors
or more mature behaviors, running away, delinquency, and much more. She then discussed what
parents can do and much of that is just having open conversations with their children about sex.
Talking to kids about the difference between safe and unsafe touches, that their bodies belong to
them and no one has a right to hurt them, safety rules that apply to all adults’ not just strangers,
to report to you when any adult asks them to keep a secret, and many more. Ms. Pitts talked
about how important teaching interviewing skills are so children don’t feel scared or blamed. I
was so thrilled to hear this was happening in my community. I have witnessed interviews that
seemed very blaming or asking children if they are telling the truth. We know from the statistics
that kids are not lying about this. A police officer from Tredyffrin was at the event and talked
about what a huge difference the skills have made within their force. They are even working
with cafeteria workers to train them how to notice warning signs are talk to kids. I left this
experience feeling very empowered and hopeful that differences were being made within my
community.
For my second experience I wanted to realize how this was connecting to counseling and
what counselors were doing for this cause. I did have to use my power a bit to make this
meeting happen. Crime Victim Center (CVC) is a victim advocacy agency for Chester County.
They offer a huge variety of free services to victims, witnesses, and family members of sexual
abuse and other crimes as well as educate the community on violence and its effects. CVC is
also right next door to Chester County’s Child Advocacy Center. Having the two locations so

7. close to one another helps with referrals and seeking help for the victims and their families.
Justice4PAKids partners with CVC for many events. At the presentation from Elizabeth Pitts,
CVC Director, Peggy Gusz was there. I contacted Peggy following the presentation to see if I
could set something up. I believe I got my foot in the door because I am an alumnus from CVC.
Knowing that I was someone who went through this process Peggy planned a meeting at CVC
with her as well as two child sexual abuse survivors.
This meeting was incredibly emotional and eye-opening for me personally and
professionally. I sat in a room with Peggy, Veronica, Lauren1, and I for what set out to be an
educational time but turned into more of a group process. We talked about our experiences
ranging from what actually happened to the legal system to the help we received. After hearing
these stories I felt hopeful. Veronica’s story is one of secrecy and guilt. During the time she
grew up, talking about these matters was incredibly taboo and no one expected it could happen to
their child. It was only with the help of a therapist, thirty years later, that she could face these
repressed traumas. Lauren’s story is one of light at the end of the tunnel. Even though her
trauma was horrific, the help she received was much improved from years past. She felt
supported by police officers and D.A.s and her trial moved very quickly. I see this upward
movement in advocacy for child sexual abuse. I see the people in my community trying to make
the difference. And I now see the difference in survivor’s stories. Although there is a lot more
work to do, I am hopeful that it is becoming less taboo and people are getting the necessary
training to identify and interview survivors.
The positive aspect of my advocacy journey was the evident changes being made within
my community. There are organizations like Justice4PAKids, CVC, and the Chester County
Child Advocacy Center that are raising awareness within our community. However, this topic is
1 Names changed in order to protect the identity of the survivors

8. still very taboo and secretive in many areas of Chester County. I noticed that along my journey I
met a variety of people from different professionals including, police officers, district attorneys,
counselors, social workers, ministers, and parents; however, I never met someone from a school.
I expected to see more teachers, guidance counselors, and administrators along my journey.
Peggy for CVC mentioned how they are trying to get more training out to the schools; however,
they have only met with one school so far. This surprised me because I would expect children to
exhibit warning signs in school settings. I think it is important for teachers and other school
employees to be trained in how to identify these warning signs and how to speak to children
about these difficult topics.
This is an area that counselors can make a huge difference in. I met so many counselors
along my journey that contributed to this cause in many different ways. First, was the counselor
that helped Veronica process repressed feelings surrounding her abuse. Counselors can help
clients’ process feelings many years after the abuse occurred. Counselors can be open to
discussing traumas that have been affecting clients for years. Another way counselors can be
involved is working for or getting involved with agencies like CVC. CVC has lots of volunteer
opportunities that counselors can take part in if they are not directly employed. Third,
counselors can get involved by creating awareness on this topic. Getting involved with
organizations like Justice4PAKids and helping in getting awareness spreading is a great way to
get involved. If counselors have considerable experience in this area they can also be speakers
for Justice4PAKids and other organizations. There are lots of ways for counselors and other
community members to get involved in this cause. It is even helping by just talking about this
topic and breaking the silence a little bit.

9. References
Cromer, L. D., & Goldsmith, R. E. (2010). Child sexual abuse myths: Attitudes, beliefs, and
individual differences. Journal of Child Sexual Abuse, 19(6), 618-647.
Cross, T. P., Jones, L. M., Walsh, W. A., Simone, M., Kolko, D., Szczepanski, J., . . . Magnuson,
S. (2008). Evaluating children's advocacy centers' response to child sexual abuse. U.S.
Department of Justice: Juvenille Justice Bulletin, 1-11.
Leeb, R.T., Paulozzi, L., Melanson, C., Simon, T., & Arias, I. (2008). Child maltreatment
surveillance: Uniform definitions for public health and recommended data elements.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Injury Preventionand
Control, 1, iv-135.
Putnam, F. W. (2003). Ten-year research update review: Child sexual abuse. American Academy
of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 42(3), 269-278.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families,
Administration on Children, Youth and Families, Children’s Bureau. (2012). Child
maltreatment 2012.