Nearly everyone deplores Larry Nassar’s assaults on gymnasts, and the workplace sexual harassment unmasked by #MeToo.
After being historically silenced, courageous women are speaking out.
But Minnesota’s children are still being silenced – by alleged abusers who get opportunities to coach and intimidate them before a caseworker arrives. Perpetrators currently get advance notification of child protection visits, and may be present when their victims are interviewed. This is equivalent to warning Nassar or Harvey Weinstein about a pending investigation, giving him time to threaten his accuser, then making the victim confront him in person.
Safe Passage is proposing legislation to interview children separately from their abusers, but some stakeholders oppose this out of concern for ‘family rights’.
Our instinctive support for victims of sexual assault should translate more consistently to #ProtectChildrenToo.