Community Awareness
Community
Get the Facts
MYTH 1: Most sexual abuse is caused by strangers who are predators and criminals.
FACT: Most cases of child abuse involve someone who is known to the child and has access to them. Some are relatives, some are friends of the family, some are acquaintances. Less than 2% are strangers. Many sexual abusers have no other criminal history for any other type of crime, hold a job, and pay their taxes. You could not tell by looking at them that they sexually abused a child or teen.
MYTH 2: Children and teens make up reports of sexual abuse to cause malicious harm to an adult.
FACT: Children and teens rarely lie and come forward at great risk and trepidation. They fear social humiliation and rejection to reveal something so personal and private. When children recant a report of child abuse it is most often due to pressure from non-supportive family members or because they fear worse retaliation.
