Imagine bringing your child home, swaddled up tightly with a little hat on their head, giving them a kiss on their forehead, and vowing to never speak in front of them. What if you said the wrong thing? Better to never say anything than to say the wrong thing. When your child is out of the room you speak freely, but the minute they’re within earshot, you clam up. Do you think that would benefit your child? Of course not! Most pediatricians say that you should talk to your child early and often. Even though they can’t respond, just hearing your voice and listening to the cadence of your words ..read more

At Defend Innocence we are often asked, How can I help? What are the ways that I can give? As a nonprofit public charity, we rely on your generosity and kindness to help us continue to educate about child sexual abuse and how to prevent it. What you may not realize is there are a lot of ways to give. This December, why not try one (or all!) of these 12 ways of giving? 01 MAKE A ONE-TIME DONATION We know that every dollar donated to us is an incredible gift and we are grateful to every donor, no matter the amount donated. If you would like to make a one-time, tax-deductible donation, sim ..read more

Keep Your Child Safe From Sexual Abuse Between November and January there are about a dozen holidays that you could celebrate, depending on your background or beliefs. These holidays provide opportunities for you to get together with friends and family and celebrate. You’ll want to keep your child’s safety as your top priority as you go to every party or event. It can be uncomfortable to think about any of your family members or friends sexually abusing your child, but you are your child’s best line of defense. This holiday season, as you prepare to take your children to other’s homes, invite ..read more

If a child or teen in your life has experienced sexual abuse, or you suspect that they may have, it can bring up a lot of questions. How can you know? What are the signs? What do you do? You may also run through a whole range of emotions as you process this new information. You can be in a position to help them, and possibly reduce their trauma in the long term. At Defend Innocence, we understand how difficult this can be, so we’ve tried to make it easy for you to find information below (and on the rest of our website) that can help you know what to do and how to act now. One of the greate ..read more

I wish I could say that I remember the time my parents had the “big talk” with me, but the truth is that we never actually had it. I was born in the U.S. but in a home where we only spoke Spanish, ate “sopa de res,” and watched Don Francisco every Saturday night, religiously. My parents, Salvadorian immigrants, worked day and night to provide for our family. We weren’t rich, but my little brother and I had everything we needed and, for the most part, had a wonderful childhood. Nonetheless, the time that my parents sacrificed working to make sure we had everything we needed had certain implic ..read more

Imagine bringing your child home, swaddled up tightly with a little hat on their head, giving them a kiss on their forehead, and then vowing to never speak in front of them. After all, what if you said the wrong thing? Better to never say anything than to say the wrong thing. Would that benefit your child? Of course not! Most pediatricians suggest talking to your child early and often. Even though they can’t respond, just hearing your voice and listening to the cadence of your words is teaching them how to form sentences and learn language. Just like your voice lays the groundwork for them t ..read more

Let’s say that you just learned some really important information about how to keep your child safe from sexual abuse, and you wanted to share it with others in your community. How would you do that? Child sexual abuse can be a sensitive topic and it’s sometimes hard to know what the next step should be. At Defend Innocence, we help you easily share education on various topics with your friends, neighbors, schools, and communities through SIMPLE COURSES that anybody can teach. If you are short on time, each course is broken down into smaller segments that can be taught all on their own. With ..read more

Cleo was on a lunch break when she heard a chilling statistic: According to a study released by the Center for Disease Control (CDC), 1 in every 4 girls and 1 in every 6 boys are sexually abused before the age of 18 in the United States.1 These numbers were like a sucker punch to Cleo’s stomach. How can we live in a world where such horrible things happen? she wondered. She wondered if parents could be more proactive about protecting their children. She wondered if kids would be able to recognize inappropriate behavior coming from adults or other kids. She wondered if the amount of people wh ..read more

You want to protect your child from sexual abuse. But where do you start? With Little Talks! You can have them at ANY age, starting as young as a newborn. Not sure what to say? Check out all of our Little Talks below to see what you should talk to your child about, no matter their age. Little Talks to Have With Your 0- to 2-Year-Old It is never too early to talk to your child about sex and healthy sexuality. Even your infant isn’t too young for you to lay a positive groundwork. Learn More Little Talks to Have With Your 2- to 4-Year-Old When children are this age they are very curio ..read more

We share a lot of great information here at Defend Innocence. There’s so much, in fact, that you may be overwhelmed and not sure where to start. This list is a great place to see the blog posts that other parents have found helpful. 01 5 FACTS ABOUT CHILD ON CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE Child on child sexual abuse (COCSA) makes up about 1/3 of all child sexual abuse. It can be difficult to recognize and difficult to talk about, but we can’t prevent what we refuse to see. READ BLOG 02 6 PERPETRATOR GROOMING PATTERNS EVERY PARENT NEEDS TO KNOW It’s common for a perpetrator to “groom” a child be ..read more