Moving from crisis to solution: Is it time to change the message?

Chris Newlin, Executive Director of the National Children’s Advocacy Center, raised an interesting question in a recent newsletter noting that some studies indicate a decline in child sexual abuse rates:

For many years, child sexual abuse professionals including those within Child Advocacy Centers have held to a similar mantra – one in four girls and one in seven boys are victims of sexual abuse or assault before the age of 18. These alarming statistics have been a rallying point for communicating the prevalence of child sexual abuse in the United States. While these statistics were absolutely true many years ago, we must ask ourselves two primary questions — Are they still accurate? If not, what should we do?

This is a good question for rape crisis centers and domestic violence agencies to consider.  Over the last 30 years, many things have change, in great part due to the tremendous work done in our communities by advocates. Some messages from years ago may not be relevant today. And we need some new messages.

What do you think?