When a child makes an outcry of abuse, many organizations decide they need to conduct a preliminary assessment or investigation to determine if the allegation is plausible before reporting the matter to the police. This is problematic for four reasons. There are legal and moral reasons for reporting allegations of abuse immediately.

When allegations of abuse or misconduct surface, the way an institution responds is as critical—and sometimes more impactful—than the initial harmful event itself. A credible, objective, and trauma-informed process is essential to pursuing truth, protecting victims, and preventing further harm. This is where independent third-party investigations, like those offered by Blue Harbor Investigations, become not just a best practice, but a moral and strategic imperative.

Worry about personal consequences can hinder our taking action. Thinking about how we will be treated, viewed, responded to can cause us to pause and not act. What if I get fired? What if this abusive person targets me? What if someone were to make an allegation about me? I wouldn’t like that so I don’t want to stir up trouble for this person.

Have you ever wondered why so many drivers flee the scene of a pedestrian/car accident–even when they were not at fault? We want to avoid facing the possibility that we might have done something wrong.

Conceptualizing cyberspace as a new system in the ecology of children may help… consider the risk of the involvement of the internet in cases of sexual abuse; consider the differential impact of the internet on children made subjects of abuse; consider the relationship and overlap between online and offline sexual abuse; and explore the meaning of the potential non-resolution of children’s online sexually abusive experience.

Summer camps, school field trips, organized retreats, and other youth trips can be very positive and formative experiences for children and teens. However, it is also true that we must, as best as we are able, discern if these environments are safe for our children. This resource will equip you with some basic informed questions that will help you discern if the environment you are sending your child or teen into is safe.