1986 Parent-Safety Guidance Published Alongside Jerry Sidell Report
Original publication: October 8, 1986. Original headline: “Parents can fight child molestation.” Byline: Jane O. Hansen.
Content note: This archival report discusses child sexual abuse and its effects.
Editorial distinction: This companion article does not name Jerry Sidell. A separate article published the same day does mention him.
Historical document: terminology and safety guidance reflect the newspaper’s reporting at the time and may not reflect current best practices. Line-end hyphenation has been normalized for readability.
From the archive
Original newspaper headline: Parents can fight child molestation
Every day, parents must turn over the care of their children to others. Whether at school, church or day care, they rely on other adults to fill their role of guide and protector.
But in recent years that trust has been violated by an onslaught of well-publicized cases of adults who sexually molest children. Parents are left asking what they can do to ensure safe environments for their kids.
“The most important point is that parents need to talk openly with their children about the relationships they’re forming with adults in the community,” said Dr. Cathy Blusiewicz, a child and family psychologist in DeKalb County.
In those discussions, parents should teach children what is a normal, healthy, loving touch between children and adults and what is not. Most importantly, they should encourage their children to tell them of any situation that makes them uncomfortable, afraid or confused.
Sexual molesters of children often remain undetected because their victims fear turning them in.
“I’ve sat down and talked with these boys a long, long time, trying to find out why they won’t talk,” said J. Tom Morgan, assistant district attorney for DeKalb County, the first prosecutor in the state assigned full-time to child abuse cases.
In addition to talking openly with their children, parents should be involved in the activities their children are involved in, said Dr. Blusiewicz. They should get to know their children’s schoolteachers, scout leaders, coaches, Sunday school teachers and day-care workers.
One of the worst things a parent can do is to become paranoid and suspect that behind every child-care worker is a sexual molester.
“It’s normal to have trusted adult friends outside the family,” said Dr. Blusiewicz. “It would be wrong for parents to decide their children shouldn’t form relationships outside the family, but parents need to be constantly involved in those relationships.”
Finally, parents should keep the problem of institutional abuse in perspective. According to statistics, the biggest threat of sexual abuse of children is not in institutions or group settings. It’s at home.
Source attribution: Historic Atlanta newspaper clipping from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution archives (edition to verify), October 8, 1986. Article by Jane O. Hansen. Transcribed from historical microfilm scans supplied for research. Original headline and byline retained. Newspaper text and imagery belong to their respective rights holders.
