Sandusky case reminds us how we can all protect children

I often talk with adults who are victims of child sexual abuse. Many share a commonality: when they were young, they weren’t able to tell.

This is Lynn’s account: “When I was 8 years old, my father quietly entered my bedroom and sexually abused me for the first time. Four years and countless terror-filled nights later, he was through with me. His acts are etched in my memory. As a young girl, I would lie in bed waiting for him to come home, drunk, late at night. At the sound of the garage door rising, I froze. I heard his keys drop on the kitchen counter; his footsteps close in on me as he climbed the stairs. Each night, I lay in bed, praying he would walk past my door. Thirty-eight years later, the sexual abuse I endured at the hands of my father is part of my consciousness every single day. The effects of his harm seep into every facet of my life: my marriage, the way I parent, my friendships, my work. I have nightmares. Sometimes, I re-live the abuse...Read More