COMMUNITY COMES TOGETHER TO PROTECT CHILDREN
The Northern Middlesex YMCA joins the Five Days of Action to protect children from sexual abuse.

The Northern Middlesex YMCA is participating in the Five Days of Action, April 18-22, 2022. The Five Days of Action is a week long campaign to raise awareness and inspire adults to take action to protect children from sexual abuse.

The Y encourages adults and organizations to join in marking this special week as we come together to make the community a safer place for children to live, learn, and play. With summer right around the corner—when children gather for activities and camps, it is a wonderful time to bring attention to the simple ways we can all make the children in our community safer.

During the Five Days of Action, The Northern Middlesex YMCA will be engaging these critical steps of prevention, KNOW. SEE. RESPOND. that will help adults better protect children. When adults know how abuse happens, see the warning signs, and respond quickly to prevent abuse, they foster a culture of child abuse prevention. Together, we can bring awareness to the issue of child sexual abuse in our communities and have important conversations about how we can all work together to prevent it from happening.

“The children of Middlesex County have the right to a happy and safe childhood, and it's our responsibility as adults and organizations to stand up to protect that right,” said Candace Crane, VP of Youth Development and Community Relations. “By joining in the Five Days of Action’s KNOW. SEE. RESPOND. campaign, we hope to inspire other organizations and members of our community to create safe spaces that protect children from sexual abuse.”

A principal endeavor of the Middlesex Y is to provide an atmosphere for the growth and development of youth and children.  Thus, the mistreatment or neglect of youth or children and the resulting severe effects are of primary concern to the Y.  Child abuse is mistreatment or neglect of a child by parent(s) or others resulting in injury or harm.  Abuse can lead to severe emotional, physical and behavioral problems.  Because of its concern for the welfare of children and youth, the Y has developed policies, standards, guidelines and training to aid in the detection and prevention of child abuse.

​ 1. All employees are screened and background checks are conducted upon hiring or rehiring.  Additionally, employees who have contact with children and youth receive training in recognizing, reporting and preventing child abuse, which includes training in recognizing signs that a child is being groomed for abuse.

​ 2. Before employment, all staff must complete Praesidium's Armatus Child Abuse Prevention Training. These online modules of training include "Duty to Report, Mandated Reporter", "Keeping Your Y Safe", "Preventing Sexual Activity Between Young Children", "Meet Sam", and "It Happened to Me".

​ 3. All employees are required to sign and abide by our Codes of Conduct, Work Rules, Childcare Code of Conduct, and our YMCA Policy Preventing the Abuse and Mistreatment of Youth. These documents can be found under the About Us tab on our website www.midymca.org.

​ Resources for Parents/Guardians A parent or guardian is the best person to teach a youth about personal safety. However, the staff at the Y will also be communicating similar messages. It is important for adults to be delivering a similar message. Please click on the About Us tab on our website www.midymca.org to access information on how to keep your youth safe, personal safety skills youth should have, ways to protect youth from abuse, and how to respond if your youth discloses abuse.

The Northern Middlesex YMCA, with support from the YMCA Champions for Child Protection, YMCA of the USA, Darkness to Light, Redwoods Group Foundation, Monique Burr Foundation for Children, and American Camp Association, have made materials available to help adults learn more about preventing child sexual abuse. For more information about preventing child sexual abuse, visit www.fivedaysofaction.org. Materials are derived from YMCA of the USA’s “Know. See. Respond.” copyrighted in 2020.

CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE STATISTICS - PROVIDED BY DARKNESS TO LIGHT One in ten children will be sexually abused before their 18th birthday. 90% of child sexual abuse victims know their abuser. Approximately 30% of children who are sexually abused are abused by family members. 60% of child sexual abuse victims never tell anyone. False reports are rare. Research shows that only 4 to 8% of child sexual abuse reports are fabricated.

WHAT TO DO IF YOU BELIEVE A CHILD IS BEING ABUSED - PROVIDED BY DARKNESS TO LIGHT You do not need to have proof that abuse is occurring to make a report, only reasonable suspicion. Reasonable suspicion means that you have witnessed maltreatment or boundary violations, either in the child or adult, or both. Or, you have received a disclosure from a child about abuse, neglect, or boundary violations towards them. Child sexual abuse reports should be made to the police and/or state child protective services. Contact the Darkness to Light Helpline at 866-FOR-LIGHT or text LIGHT to 741741 to have questions answered by trained counselors at no charge.

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Media Contact Linda Heidorn, Communications Coordinator

About The Northern Middlesex YMCA The Y is one of the nation’s leading nonprofits strengthening communities through youth development, healthy living and social responsibility. Middlesex YMCA is one of Connecticut’s leading YMCA branches with over 11,000 people served annually. YMCA Camp Ingersoll located in Portland, CT is operated by Middlesex YMCA and exists to allow children to explore nature make new friends, and acquire new skills.

About Darkness to Light Darkness to Light is a nonprofit organization with the mission to empower adults to prevent child sexual abuse through awareness, education, and stigma reduction. Darkness to Light’s flagship program, Stewards of Children®, is an evidence-informed, award-winning training that teaches adults to prevent, recognize, and react responsibly to child sexual abuse. More than 1.9 million adults have been trained using Darkness to Light trainings. For more information, visit www.D2L.org.

About Redwoods Group Foundation The Redwoods Group Foundation supports programs that can change the world and helps them reach more people than ever before, through funding and backbone support. We currently focus on child sexual abuse prevention, drowning prevention, and growing the field of social entrepreneurship. For more information, visit www.redwoodsgroup.com.

About the Monique Burr Foundation for Children The Monique Burr Foundation for Children (MBF) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting children by providing the best comprehensive, evidence-based prevention education programs. MBF prevention programs educate and empower children and relevant adults with information and strategies to prevent, recognize, and respond appropriately to the four types of child abuse (physical, emotional, sexual, and neglect), exploitation, bullying, cyberbullying, human trafficking, digital abuse, and other digital dangers. MBF is now a leader in prevention education with our programs having reached over 4.5 million children throughout Florida and the United States. For more information, visit www.mbfpreventioneducation.org.

About American Camp Association The American Camp Association® (ACA) is a national organization serving the more than 15,000 year-round and summer camps in the US who annually serve 26 million campers. ACA is committed to collaborating with those who believe in quality camp and outdoor experiences for children, youth, and adults. ACA provides advocacy, evidence-based education, and professional development, and is the only independent national accrediting body for the organized camp experience. ACA Accreditation provides public evidence of a camp's voluntary commitment to the health, safety, risk management, and overall well-being of campers and staff. For more information, visit www.ACAcamps.org or call 800-428-2267.