Pedaling For Prevention!

Tyler and Landon will be riding their bikes across the U.S. to raise awareness of child sexual abuse and the need for adults to be educated in prevention. Supporters can follow their journey as well as make donations to support their efforts at www.PedalForPrevention.com.
Go Tyler and Landon (and, of course, Darkness To Light)!

Happy Birthday, America!

I found this great photo on Photobucket, posted by "Indykidslinked." I loved it and wanted to share it with you.
May every day find you, and all of our children, free and safe. Happy Independence Day!

Visitor!

I was delighted to welcome Deborah Donovan Rice, Executive Director of Stop It Now!, to a recent Stewards of Children training. Deborah had an opportunity to experience Stewards firsthand as well as share with attendees information about her organization's great prevention mission. Deborah also met recently with Darkness To Light's Founder and CEO, Anne Lee, in an effort to form a "strategic alliance" in the name of child sexual abuse prevention. 
I encourage you to visit the Stop It Now! website and see what Deborah's great team is up to.

Courage Network

Interview w/ Susan Komisar Hausman, Child Sexual Abuse Advocate and Author of Kisses from Dolce from Courage Network on Vimeo.

I was honored to be featured on Courage Network, a wonderful online community for those coping with abuse and its aftermath. I hope you'll listen in and peruse their site, sharing the link with others you know who may have a need for such resources.
Thank you, Courage Network, for the interview and, most importantly, for the help you offer to so many in need.

"Learn the Facts. Understand the Risks."

Step 1 of Darkness To Light's "7 Steps To Protecting Our Children" is "Learn the Facts. Understand the Risks." The 7 steps are at the core of the Stewards of Children prevention training, but more importantly, they are the common sense wake up call to adults about how to keep children safer from child sexual abuse.
I write this today after seeing this video, aired & posted by NBC Philadelphia regarding the discovery of an online predator manual, a how-to for sexually violating children. It is calculated and chilling. Please take the time to watch and learn, then share this video and information with other adults. Knowing what is out there, how abuse happens, is crucial in the quest to prevent and react responsibly to it.

Ordering "Kisses From Dolce"

I just learned that Amazon is awaiting delivery of more copies of "Kisses From Dolce: A Book for Children About Trusting and Telling," but I want to remind you that the book is also available from the publisher at www.trafford.com/08-0805 or from me at kissesfromdolce@gmail.com.
It is deeply gratifying to know that the book is being sought out and used in the ways in which it was intended.
Thank you.

Getting Out The Prevention Message

Today I am undertaking, along with my colleagues at Darkness To Light, a new venture.
For years we have watched Oprah Winfrey inform her audiences about child sexual abuse, featuring survivors, perpetrators, mental health and other professionals. Darkness To Light has contacted Oprah and her staff many times over the years in an effort to encourage her to bring its unique message and program to her viewers - all, unfortunately, to no avail. Even when D2L' s premier program, Stewards of Children, won the Crime Prevention Program of the Year in 2007 from the National Crime Prevention Council there was no invitation to appear or even a mention to her audience about what was available to them in a 2.5 hour training. Even though Stewards of Children is the only 3rd party evaluated, evidence-based prevention program in this country, still no mention.
Don't get me wrong - Oprah has brought vital information to her viewers and readers about many topics for a very long time. She's generously given away so much and helped many people. Indeed, it is because of that, because we know she has the best of intentions and because we know she can reach so many people with her message, that we are pursuing a campaign to encourage, perhaps compel, her and her staff to not only inform her audience about Stewards, but to take it themselves and to give it away. An Oprah Stewards of Children giveaway of the best possible gift: PREVENTION.
If you are on Facebook, please join our group and invite your friends to do the same.
Thank you.

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/group.php?gid=120365477986007