“I can finealy tell sum one about my prodlums and now I’m Safe, Strong and Free and I can step out of the darkness.”
- written by a 3rd grade child after participating in a Listen to Kids’ program“These programs save lives!”
- Laurie Fenk, school counselor at Boise Eliot Elementary school.
All children have the right to be safe. Children who live with violence and abuse learn at an early age that the world is a dangerous place. They come to see the adults in their lives as unable or unwilling to protect them. These children often feel responsible for the abuse and for keeping themselves and their loved ones safe. As adults we are responsible for ensuring their safety.
Listen To Kids has a twenty-three year history
of providing child abuse and domestic violence prevention and early
intervention programs to children and adults. Listen To Kids’ programs teach children how to get
help if they are being abused and/or are living with domestic violence.
Children learn they have the right to be safe, to listen to their feelings
and to tell and keep telling safe grown-ups when they need help. Listen
To Kids also teaches adults – parents, caregivers, teachers – how
to listen to children, how to identify abuse indicators and how to respond
appropriately.
Family & Domestic Violence
Shelter-based Programs
“Before you guys came I didn’t know I wasn’t supposed to stop them, so I would just sit on the stairs and yell, “stop, stop, stop!”
–3rd grade child
Our newest endeavor, called the Parent-Child Involvement Project (PChIP), expands our services to reduce the risk of child abuse in families leaving domestic violence situations. With a focus on children ages 0 to 6 and their siblings, this project provides emotional support, parenting skills education, developmental guidance, advocacy and assistance in creating safe and stable homes.
Parents and children learn appropriate behaviors for expressing their needs and emotions without engagingin physically and/or emotionally hurtful behavior. Focusing on parent-child interaction, this program supports mothers and other family members in responding effectively to the trauma and behavioral problems of children who witness domestic violence and helps restore a secure, nurturing parent-child relationship.
Did you know?
•1 out of every 4 children in Oregon lives
in a home where violence occurs.
•1 in 4 girls and 1 in 7 boys will be molested before the age of
eighteen.
•Family members are the perpetrators in 94% of child abuse cases.
•Of the 10,622 incidents of child abuse in Oregon in 2004, 49%
were younger than 6 years old. 8 children died.
•Domestic violence is the single greatest risk factor in predicting
child abuse and neglect.
•Most victims of violence do not report their abuse to law enforcement
officials, and fewer than 5% tell anyone at all.
•When children do muster the courage to tell someone about abuse,
overwhelmingly the adults in children’s lives do not have accurate
information or adequate skills to respond effectively.
•Nationally only 11% of abuse prevention programs include training
for both children and adults. Listen To Kids is among this 11%.
SCHOOL-BASED PROGRAMS
“Dear Safety Ladies, I am thanking you guys for coming into my classroom. You really helped me. Now I know what to do when my family is fighting.”
- 3rd grade child
Listen To Kids is the oldest and largest school-based child abuse and domestic violence prevention project in the Pacific Northwest, and the only program in the Greater Portland Metropolitan Area that provides both child abuse prevention and intervention components to preschool and elementary school children AND provides training for the adults in their lives – parents, caregivers and school staff.
Prevention:
The children’s workshops are team taught by qualified educators.
Using active social learning techniques (i.e., modeling, role playing,
story-telling and group discussion), children are taught the prevention
strategies of assertiveness, peer support and telling trusted adults.
The workshops are presented to children in the safety of their regular
classroom environment.
Early Intervention:
After each classroom workshop, children have the opportunity to talk
one-to-one with a caring, respectful adult. Last year, one in every
three elementary school children who talked with a program facilitator
shared an experience of abuse/violence that required intervention services.
For many of these children, it was the first time they felt safe enough
to talk about their experiences. Some of these children had tried to
get help, often multiple times. As one child said, “When something
happens, you still have a bruise on the inside. I am glad you’re
here so I can talk about it.”
Making A Difference:
Listen To Kids helps ensure that the youngest and most vulnerable children
know they have the right to be safe. For example:
After a Families & Feelings™ presentation a child who was living with current domestic violence took a safety plan home and shared it with mom. Together they talked for the first time about how witnessing this violence was impacting the child. The mother and child are now living away from the abuser. The school counselor, the mother and the child credit Listen To Kids as the impetus for this change.
A 6th grade child talked about sexual abuse by her grandfather. She shared that he abused her sister and their cousin as well. She had already told her mother but nothing had been done about it. The school counselor was currently meeting weekly with this child about other issues in her life, but she had never talked to the counselor about her grandfather. Because Listen To Kids listened and intervened, the sexual abuse was reported and the grandfather is being prosecuted. The child now says she feels “like a hero.”
“CHILD ABUSE IS A PAINFUL, CHALLENGING PROBLEM FOR PARENTS AND TEACHERS. IT IS ONE THAT NOT MANY OF US FEEL PREPARED AND CONFIDENT TO COPE WITH ON OUR OWN. I STRONGLY BELIEVE THAT [LISTEN TO KIDS] IS A VITAL RESOURCE IN OUR COMMUNITY.”
- Ellie Justice, Director Helen Gordon Child Development Center
Vital Statistics
• Mission: Listen To Kids works together with children and adults to end child abuse and domestic violence through prevention and early intervention programs.
• Programs: Are mobile; we deliver them where they are needed in the community, such as: elementary schools, preschools, domestic violence shelters, business and civic organizations, and in clients’ homes.
• Current programs include: Kids Can™, Families & Feelings™, No Punching Judy® and the Parent-Child Involvement Project.
• Clients: Listen To Kids currently serves over 6,000 children ages 0-12 and the adults in their lives (parents, caregivers, school staff, etc.) annually.• Service Area: Located in North Portland, Listen To Kids provides services throughout Multnomah, Clackamas and Washington Counties – other areas by arrangement.
• History: Listen To Kids (formerly known as Community Advocates) has served over 200,000 children and adults since 1983. Listen To Kids is a private nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization led by an active, passionate Board of Directors.
YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE!
“I never had the chance to tell anyone before...
until you.”
- 3rd grade child
Be Informed…
Listen To Kids is here to help. Adult training includes:
• How to recognize and interpret symptoms of abuse,
• Simple language for adults and children to use regarding basic
safety knowledge and skills,
• Developmentally appropriate prevention strategies that can be
incorporated into your daily interactions with children, and
• Tools for effectively listening and responding to disclosures
of abuse from children.
Teach Children...
• That their body has the right to be safe.
• That they can decide how and when someone touches them.
• That touches NEVER have to be secret.
• The proper names for body parts.
• That they have the right to say NO to people who say or do things
that make them uncomfortable (even a family member).
• If they feel unsafe, to tell and to keep telling until someone
believes them.
• To identify safe grown-ups they can confide in.
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503.280.1388 |