Last year The Utah Legislature passed a bill last year that requires all school personnel to have training on child sexual abuse. The administration, staff and teachers in Carbon School District are now taking an on-line course that is also offered to the public.
“We would like to see parents take this course so they understand the problems,” said Judy Mainord, the Secondary Supervisor for the district. “It would be valuable to them. For the school personnel, training focuses on four kinds of child abuse: physical, mental/emotional, sexual, and neglect.”
The parent training focuses recognizing and prevention child sexual abuse, which is a significant problem across the country; percentages show that it is very high in Utah. Generally speaking one in four girls and one in six boys are abused by someone before they reach the age of 17. Recognizing abused children early by parents, friends and school personnel can be the key to keeping the problem from affecting children when they get older. The cost of child sexual abuse in a year in Utah is one billion dollars. That’s because the cost of taking care of the mental and behavior problems that are caused by these actions is immense should abuse happen and if it is not detected and treated early.
The law requires Local Education Agencies (LEAs) to use the instructional materials approved by the Board to provide child abuse awareness and prevention training and instruction of school personnel. These same materials are used to train parents/guardians of elementary school students.
It also provides that a school district or charter school may provide child sexual abuse prevention and awareness instruction to elementary school students, subject to certain requirements.
The Utah State Board of Education (USBE) has approved the guidelines for instructional materials for child sexual abuse prevention. Those minimum guidelines were developed with help from multiple state agencies, prevention advocates, and other experts in the field.
Parents are the ideal messengers for child sexual abuse prevention efforts. They can have a direct effect on their children, other parents, and many professionals who work with children who they encounter in their daily lives. The course teaches parents how to protect their children from child sexual abuse, how to recognize signs that abuse is occurring and take steps to stop it, how to receive disclosures of child sexual abuse, and who disclosures or concerns should be reported to.
Taking the course on-line is easy and interesting. The process takes under an hour to complete.
To learn about the course and to take it parents and others can go to https://pcau.enspark.com
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