 | Children’s Advocacy Center 2855 Michigan St NE Grand Rapids, MI 49506 616.336.5160 © 2023 Copyright - Children's Advocacy Center of Kent County - Privacy Policy |
Who We Are.
Kids Have Rights, the school-based prevention program of the Children’s Advocacy Center of Kent County, seeks to educate and empower students, school staff, parents, and caregivers to recognize, report, and prevent child sexual abuse. The Kids Have Rights Team is comprised of professionals with expertise and experience in the fields of education, child development, mental health, and child sexual abuse.
“This is a wonderful program! The lessons are always clear and meaningful. This is such an important program! It really teaches kids they have their own voice and know their rights! I am so glad all children in our community receive this!”
What We Do.
Kids Have Rights partners with elementary schools throughout the county to provide body safety education to children in kindergarten through the 4th grade. The curriculum is based on research and best practice in prevention and informed by the expertise of professionals in the field, as well as program educators. Through interactive, engaging classroom lessons, KHR empowers students to attend to, value, and share their feelings. Students are taught how to recognize touches and situations that are, or maybe, unsafe, and provided with the language and support needed to seek help from a Safe Adult when needed.
The safety of children in our community is not a responsibility we place on their shoulders alone. Kids Have Rights provides school staff, along with parents and caregivers, with education and resources on the warning signs of child sexual abuse, how to effectively listen and respond to a disclosure, reporting suspected abuse, and how to normalize and continue the conversation surrounding body safety with the children in their lives. When a child knows that they have adults in their lives who will listen to them, who will believe them, and who will help them, they are willing to tell their story free of hesitation or fear.
Kids Have Rights knows that it’s through working collectively and consistently, that we can end the silent epidemic of child sexual abuse.
“KHR has saved kids’ lives. I know firsthand because I had to testify in court to help my third grader over 10 years ago. You guys mean the world to us! “
Getting Kids Have Rights into your school.
Please contact prevention services supervisor, Andrea Woller, for more information.
5% of children under the age of 18 are solicited sexually online.
1,000+ suspected child sexual abuse cases are reported in Kent County each year.
75% of childhood sexual abuse is thought to go unreported.
1 in 7 girls and 1 in 25 boys are sexually abused.
