How to Protect Children from Sexual Abuse and Grooming, with Feather Berkower

Real Health Conversations

Our guest today is Feather Berkower, a licensed clinical social worker with a Master’s of Social Welfare from UC Berkeley. She has been a leader in child sexual abuse prevention since 1985 and has educated nearly one-hundred fifty thousand schoolchildren, parents and youth professionals. Her well-regarded workshop, Parenting Safe Children, empowers adults to keep children safe from sexual assault. Feather co-authored Off Limits, a parenting book that will change the way you think about keeping children safe. It is available on her website at parentingsafechildren.com

Sexual abuse of children is a difficult topic to discuss, but that is why these conversations need to take place. The manipulative behaviors perpetrators use to set children up for sexual abuse are designed to be subtle and often appear innocent. As parents, nothing is more important than the health and safety of our children. What we, many parents, don’t know or realize, is that in these unsettling situations, the perpetrators are also working the parents. Abusers will often groom a family, and not just a child.

Article: What are some warning signs of sexual abuse or grooming? This is what the experts say

Resources:

Parenting Safe Children

Parenting Safe Children Parent Workshop, October 8, 19