My child was touched by his mentor in an after school or similar program. What should I do?

It is important that you immediately report any “touching” or any other behavior that you believe in inappropriate between any adult or other child, and your child.  You should not only report the inappropriate behavior to the organization in charge of placing your child with the offending adult, but you should also report any such event to the police.  In our opinion, you should even report suspicions that you have that something is wrong.  It has been our experience that many children are needlessly exposed to abusive adults because no previous adults would come forward with suspicions that the abuser was doing something inappropriate.

If your child has been inappropriately touched, you should immediately seek counseling for your child in a program designed to treat victims of child sexual abuse. An excellent facility in Orlando, Florida, the area is The Healing Tree/Sexual Trauma Recovery Center associated with the Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children.

Next, you should begin asking around to other children and families as to whether they have had any trouble or suspicions with the same mentor.  Most of the success we’ve had in these kinds of cases have been the result of negligent supervision or negligent background checking.  Organizations that cater to children have a duty to carefully screen any adult they are putting in contact with your child.  Additionally, once that adult is in contact with your child, the matching organization is responsible for reasonably supervising the relationship in order to make sure nothing inappropriate is going on.

If you have any questions please call us at  407-565-7386 or text us at 407-644-4444. We are always happy to offer a no-obligation, free consultation to discuss your case with you.