Teacher Smackdown

Last week the Denver Post wrote about Frank James Gutierrez,62, who sexually assaulted a nine-year-old boy he was babysitting. Even though Gutierrez was listed in Colorado’s Sex Offender registry and featured on the Longmont Police Department’s Sex Offender website, the boy’s mother never thought of checking into his background.

If she had she would have known that Gutierrez has a felony for sexually assaulting a nine-year-old girl in San Diego 1990. Police found out he was accused of molesting other children as well.

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If you’re a fan of NBC’s To Catch a Predator show, you’ve heard of the volunteer citizen’s group, Perverted Justice.

In their PeeJ Guide section, they have information on What Parents Can Do, as well as a Page to Read with Your Kids and a Page to Read with Your Teen.

Not only do these guides give parents good advice, they address kids on their level and tell them what to watch out for.

Perverted Justice just started a site for teens called How to Deal with Creepy People. Creator Del Harvey is an administrator and law enforcement liaison at Perverted Justice. She hopes the website will serve as a resource for teenagers on subjects like bullying, stalking and sexual harassment - both on and offline. Del says the site will contain accurate information, practical suggestions, and helpful advice.

I think teens will relate well to Del and her cohorts because they’re young and into cool things like tatoos and longboarding. And she’s right, a site like this is needed by a lot of kids to protect them from online predators and online bullying/harassment from classmates. Welcome to the information age, mom and dad.

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Perverted-Justice.com, online bullying, online harassment, online sex predators, internet sex predators, To Catch a Predator, NBC Dateline

Parents want an easy way to do background checks, so USA Football is giving half a million dollars to encourage youth leagues to register for background screening services for their coaches through www.USAFootball.com so they can receive gold-standard, fully-managed background screening services at significantly reduced pricing through the National Center for Safety Initiatives (NCSI).

USA Football is the national governing body of youth, high school and international amateur football, and is the first national youth sports organization to make this kind of commitment towards the fight against child predators.

To read the press release, click here. And encourage your school, rec, and competitive sports leagues to sign up today and start doing background checks on their coaches.

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USA Football, background checks, coaches abusing kids, sexual abuse

With summer comes new risks for children to be abused. Have you checked out your children’s new babysitters, camp counselors, and coaches. Even doing a simple Google search on coach or teacher can reveal a lot.

Ask what sort of background checks your camp, YMCA, church, temple, or rec center has done on their counselors. Make sure you can drop by any time to observe class. And talk to your kids. If they think something funny is going on, take them seriously.

Following are some of the warning signs of potential sexual abuse in children:

– Withdrawal from friends

– Spending too much time with one teacher

– Acting in a provocative or adult manner

– Signs of depressed behavior

– Expressing a strong desire to stop an activity without a specific reason

– New attention and gifts from someone

– Reluctance to be in the company of certain people

SOURCES: Terri Miller, president of Stop Educator Sexual Abuse, Misconduct and Exploitation; National Center for Missing and Exploited Children

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sexual abuse, child abuse, abuse prevention

I heard author Chris Hanson on the radio talking about his new book, To Catch a Predator: Protecting Your Kids from Online Enemies Already in Your Home.

Hansen is the correspondent for the “To Catch a Predator” series on Dateline. In his book, Hansen shares the many stories of the victims who have motivated him to speak out. Their accounts expose the twisted psychology and workings of men who prey on children and teens, how they manipulate their victims and their loved ones, and the way they’ve destroyed children, families, and communities. Hansen also explores effective punishment and treatments to stamp out the crime.

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Sunday’s Denver Post ran a series of articles about sexual abuse and offered some tips for parents in Teach children early, and go beyond “Beware of strangers”.

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