One of the largest school districts in Sussex County is training its entire staff how to recognize and respond to signs of child sexual abuse.
The Stewards of Children training is coming to the Cape Henlopen School District.
The Beau Biden Foundation will be in several Cape Henlopen district schools Friday - working with teachers and staff members to help eliminate situations where children could be vulnerable to abuse.
More than 1,000 teachers and staff members will learn more about signs of abuse and how to react responsibly if a child divulges they’ve been abused.
Beau Biden Foundation executive director Patty Dailey Lewis says the training is very interactive.
“We have certified facilitators who will come in and the training is broken into, really three parts. So, there’s a video, discussion, video discussion. The video features both survivors of child sexual abuse who have been victims along a variety a variety of ways.”
The video also features experts in the area of child protection, such as pediatricians and psychologists, talking about how they implement the Stewards of Children.
Daily Lewis says the training aims to teach adults - especially those who deal extensively with kids - how prevent, recognize, and react responsibly to child sexual abuse.
“We look at this as, what is that wheel that makes the community run. And certainly the spokes in that wheel have to be our educators, our law enforcement, our medical professionals. But at the very center of that wheel is the community. So we make this program available to both community members and to professionals in their field.”
Dailey Lewis says teachers and staff in schools not trained on Friday will receive training next month.
The Stewards of Children program was started in 2011. It’s goal is to train staff at every school in the state. It’s already trained Indian River school district staff and is working to train staff on three other districts soon.
