The first wave of our Initiatives specifically will focus on the area of “grooming” in policy, prevention and awareness, which we call the “Edification Project.”
Grooming is employed by sexual abusers of children in the majority of cases, as most cases involve someone familiar to the abused. And despite there being clear warning signs, there remains little to no professional and community education as to how to prevent, protect, and respond to, our children from predatory behaviors involving grooming.
Since our event in June, we have moved forward aggressively with developing a detailed curriculum on grooming techniques that can be used by law enforcement and prosecution, including victim advocacy, aiming to make the prosecutorial process mercifully more efficient for victims, sparing them agonizing delays by helping prosecutors strengthen their cases against their abusers. We have commenced this phase of our project and are using raised funding to move forward in bringing experts in grooming to the table to help in this process. Our work involves bringing highly trained individuals from a New York City University, and Penn State University to move forward with our edification initiative. In SE Idaho Courts we’ve had 2 cases where details regarding the steps of grooming have been used and prevailed.
In the coming months we will bring an understanding of grooming to victims through further development of this curriculum for the general public. One of the most valuable things we can provide is to help survivors see more clearly the manipulation that led to their harm, bringing them toward a more peaceful and powerful self-acceptance. Beyond the life-robbing effects of guilt and shame. These same steps of grooming need to be shared to families and loved ones. We have found many families share, “If I would have known the steps of grooming, I may have seen it and stopped it.” These words are far to often shared after the fact. We want to get this information out front and quickly.
The Edification Initiative as it pertains to each of these distinct areas of need: Justice and Policy, Community Outreach/ Education, and Victim Care and Support. In each of these tracts are separate projects associated with phases over time.
Our work with developing curriculum for the prosecutorial process is our first phase of implementation. We have met with and continue to meet with experts in this area of grooming and during the coming months launch our edification project locally in Eastern Idaho as we pilot this new curriculum within our professional community.
Thank you for your continued support and good will it truly helps us keep marching forward to hope filled tomorrows.
