Protecting Your Child From Predators

Even good parents often underestimate the dangers their children face. Research indicates that one in four females and one in six males are sexually abused before age 18. In most cases, the enemy is not a faceless stranger; it's someone you know and trust--a neighbor, a coach, or even a family member. This book provides practical steps to ensure you're doing all you can to reduce the risks of abuse. But since you cannot be with your children 24/7, it goes beyond what you can do as a parent to teach you how to increase your child's own awareness and strategies in the face of potential dangers--without making them fearful. Dr. Robinson, whose decades-long practice focuses on abused and endangered children, calls on her own case studies to show age- appropriate conversation starters for parents, teaching them how to ask the right questions and provide the right boundaries. This book will help you move from fear to confidence on this heavy topic that is just too important to ignore.

Shows how to identify sexual predators and protect children, discussing the most common characteristics of a sexual predator, different stages of abuse, and various types of predators.

An urgently needed primer on how to protect kids from the increasing threat of online predators Over 40 million Americans have seen Dateline’s ongoing popular series To Catch a Predator, which has caught over two hundred potential child predators. Here, Hansen shares the true stories of families who have been targeted by predators, revealing the tactics predators use to manipulate their victims and why even cautious families can be vulnerable to their attacks. He also offers suggestions from police officers, therapists, and child predators on the best approaches for preventing these crimes. Most critically, he provides parents with concrete steps they can take to protect their kids today, including how to initiate meaningful conversations with their children. To Catch a Predator teaches parents and children what they need to know before the next predator strikes.

Safety skills for children outside the home Warning signs of sexual abuse How to screen baby-sitters and choose schools Strategies for keeping teenagers safe from violence All parents face the same challenges when it comes to their children's safety: whom to trust, whom to distrust, what to believe, what to doubt, what to fear, and what not to fear. In this empowering book, Gavin de Becker, the nation's leading expert on predicting violent behavior and author of the monumental bestseller The Gift of Fear, offers practical new steps to enhance children's safety at every age level, giving you the tools you need to allow your kids freedom without losing sleep yourself. With daring and compassion, he shatters the widely held myths about danger and safety and helps parents find some certainty about life's highest-stakes questions: How can I know a baby-sitter won't turn out to be someone who harms my child? (see page 103) What should I ask child-care professionals when I interview them? (see page 137) What's the best way to prepare my child for walking to school alone? (see page 91) How can my child be safer at school? (see page 175) How can I spot sexual predators? (see page 148) What should I do if my child is lost in public? (see page 86) How can I teach my child about risk without causing too much fear? (see page 98) What must my teenage daughter know in order to be safe? (see page 191) What must my teenage son know in order to be safe? (see page 218) And finally, in the face of all these questions, how can I reduce the worrying? (see page 56)

WARNING: THREATS TO YOUR CHILD AHEAD! Losing your child’s heart to the perverse world of a sexual predator is truly every parent’s nightmare. When an $800 cell phone bill revealed a secret relationship between our highachieving, Sunday School teaching 15 year old daughter, Kalyn, and a 46 year old man from our congregation, we were horrified. The aftermath of destruction, as it usually is with sexual abuse, was disastrous. Rebellion, depression, wrong relationships, eating disorders, and selfmutilation suddenly turned home into a war zone. In Kalyn’s mind we, her parents, were her enemies while the sexual perpetrator remained her hero. How could something so bizarre happen in a loving Christian home?

Predators are everywhere and they can strike at any time-- and they come in all shapes and sizes. More than 1.2 million families will report child sexual abuse by the end of this year. Research suggests that many hundreds of thousands more boys and girls from all backgrounds and of all ages may experience abuse that is not reported. To keep your family from becoming part of these frightening statistics, you must read this invaluable book. Protecting Your Children from Sexual Predators details everything you need to know and everything you need to do to keep your child safe. You will learn how to identify potential sexual predators, how to recognize the signs of the grooming behaviors that come before the actual act of sexual abuse, and how to arm your children with the necessary skills to prevent abuse. Sexual predators commit the most heinous acts against the more defenseless members of our society. They often are disguised as harmless and caring people; they may interact with your children as their baby-sitters, youth group leaders, clergy, teachers, coaches, neighbors, medical professionals, and family members. What these predators hold in common is their ability to earn the trust of both the children they attack and their parents. In Protecting Your Children from Sexual Predators, Dr. Leigh Baker gives you the unique opportunity to meet these predators up close and to examine: * The ten most common characteristics they display, such as refusal to take responsibility for their actions, sense of entitlement, and the need for power and control. * How they lead their victims through the five stages of sexual abuse. * The four types of personalities they commonly exhibit. * How female sexual predators can gain access to your child. * The ways that juveniles offend against other children. * How sexual predators travel the Internet and the many ways that they can harm your child through cyberspace. * How baby-sitting can pose a danger to your child if you don't take the necessary steps to ensure safety. * How to use the sex offender registry to prevent known predators from gaining access to your child. By allowing parents to identify sexual predators before their children are harmed, Dr. Baker takes the battle to end sexual abuse to the only front where it can ever truly be won: the home front.

In this straightforward, clearly written guidebook, veteran sex-crimes prosecutor and Los Angeles deputy district attorney Robin Sax answers one hundred questions that she has most often encountered in her fifteen years of experience.

More than 1.2 million families report child sexual abuse (SA) every year, & many hundreds of thousands more children from all backgrounds & of all ages may experience SA that is not reported. Here is everything you need to know & everything you need to do to keep your child safe. You will learn how to identify potential sexual predators, how to recognize the signs of the grooming behaviors that come before the actual act of SA, & how to arm your children with the necessary skills to prevent SA. Sexual predators are often disguised as harmless & caring people who earn the trust of both the children they attack & their parents: youth group leaders, clergy, teachers, coaches, baby-sitters, neighbors, med. professionals, & family members.