Prevention in the Home

 

Monique was nine years old when he started abusing her.  He began by spying on her as she undressed; then he started visiting her room at night and touching her private parts.  When she resisted him, he was furious. Once he even attacked her with a hammer and threw her down a flight of stairs. "No one would believe me," Monique recalls-not even her mother.  The abuser was Monique's stepfather. 

IT IS NOT the stranger in a trench coat, the loner lurking in the bushes, who poses the greatest threat to children. It is a member of the family.  The vast majority of sexual abuse occurs in the home. So how can the home be made more resistant to abuse? 

In his book Slaughter of the Innocents, historian Dr. Sander J. Breiner examines the evidence of child abuse in five ancient societies-Egypt, China, Greece, Rome, and Israel. He concludes that while abuse did exist in Israel, it was relatively rare compared to the other four civilizations.  Why? Unlike their neighbors, the people in Israel were taught to have respect for women and children-an enlightened view they owed to the Holy Scriptures.  When the Israelites applied divine las to family life, the prevented child abuse. Today's families need these clean, practical standards and more than ever.

Next time: Prevention in the Home - Moral Laws

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