Experts look back on 20 years of keeping kids safe
LA’s Catholic child protection experts look back on 20 years of keeping kids safe
There are few jobs, Susie Lopez will tell you, more rewarding than teaching kids how to stand up to potential predators.
Lopez, who trains catechists for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles’ Empowering God’s Children and Young People program, told the story of one girl in her community who was inappropriately touched by a schoolmate. When she had the courage to disclose that to an adult, she stopped the abuse not only for herself, but for others.
“She knew what to do,” said Lopez. “She told her catechist and the catechist reported it. From that, five other little victims came forward. They never said anything about it and it had been going on for half of the year.”
Unlike the first girl, Lopez explained, those victims hadn’t gone through something like Empowering God’s Children, which teaches youth about thwarting and reporting sexual abuse.