First Awareness Ribbon for the Prevention of Child Sexual Abuse Introduced by The Mama Bear Effect

BOSTON, March 26, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Child sexual abuse survivors and prevention advocates now have their own awareness ribbon to promote the need to expand prevention education and resources for healing.

From the Adverse Childhood Experience (ACE) Study organized through the cooperation of the Center for Disease Control and Kaiser Permanente, it is estimated that one in four girls and one in six boys are at risk of sexual abuse before they turn eighteen.

"We are doing a disservice to victims and survivors of child sexual abuse to ignore this issue any longer," said Adrianne Simeone, President and Founder of The Mama Bear Effect. "Child sexual abuse affects hundreds of thousands of infants to teens across our nation - of all demographic levels. We cannot protect these children until this epidemic is put under a spotlight for all to see, and we are thrilled to have this ribbon trademarked, designating chartruese as the color for this cause. With April being Child Abuse Prevention Month, there is no better time to launch this development."

Simeone explains, "Many protective parents reach out to us wishing for more people to be aware. As they say, hind-sight is 20/20 - many caring adults miss the warning signs of abusers and symptoms of abuse in children are often misdiagnosed or overlooked. Many children are not educated in body safety and often are too ashamed and afraid to tell. For those children that do tell, there is rarely physical evidence to corroborate their story. Most abusers will never spend a day in jail." 

Margaret Hoelzer, Olympic medalist who advocates on behalf of child sexual abuse prevention shared, "I am so happy and proud to support an organization that is helping survivors. I am a survivor and there is power in that. This ribbon shows that survivor's power and the community's support of them." 

Visit TheMamaBearEffect.org and click on the "awareness ribbon" tab for more information.

About The Mama Bear Effect

A nationally-focused nonprofit with the mission to prevent child sexual abuse, The Mama Bear Effect offers an educational website geared toward parents, as well as down-to-earth educational brochures and tools for community advocacy. A comprehensive abuse prevention toolkit entitled, 'Conversations That Matter' is in development, intended to be released later in 2015 to be made available to various pediatric channels.

SOURCE The Mama Bear Effect

Related Links

http://themamabeareffect.org