Michigan FBI Webinar: Do You Have The Tools to Protect Your Kids?

Sextortion is up across the country which can scar kids for life. As a victim of child abuse myself I am a strong advocate for educating anyone who deals with kids on a daily basis and that is exactly what the Detroit field office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation is doing.

What I dealt with as a child (which I may or may not get into in a later post) was more physically damaging than sextortion, but the mental damage and long term effects can be just as bad on an emotional level. Making sure you can identify a child who is struggling is a key to preventing further damage, injury and anguish for that particular child and may prevent other children from suffering the same fate.

In an effort to encompass everything from preventing sextortion to criminal sexual conduct, the FBI is holding an online session to help those in authority roles to help kids when they need it. The trick is to identify problems without making kids feel like any guilt falls on them. At the same time making kids feel comfortable enough to open up to trusted authority figures.

While I don't want to get into the details of what I dealt with as a child and why I was afraid to ask for help at the time, I will say this. To parents, teachers, counselors and anyone else who deals with kids on a daily basis it is important to not just listen to what they tell you and listen for any signs of an issue. But more than that, it is CRUCIAL that they can come to you no matter what! That was something I wasn't sure of as a kid, and my lack of confidence in myself talking to an authority figure about the problem caused it to go on four years longer than it should have.

Our children are precious and incredibly impressionable. While you may not be able to control everything they see online, at least make sure they know they can talk to you about anything and everything.