Why the Next Frontier of Protecting Kids in Illinois Needs to Be Educator Sexual Abuse
Last month Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul released the report on Catholic Church Clergy Sexual Abuse. This report came from a commitment that his predecessor, Lisa Madigan, made in 2018 as other states had conducted similar reports. Many of us remember feeling deeply the shock, horror and dismay when in 2002 — two decades ago — the Boston Globe broke the story that uncovered the widespread sexual abuse of children by scores of the district’s clergy.
A lot has happened since 2002. I am now a mom with more than 20 years of work experience and currently the founder of the KIDS TOO movement and Parents Against Child Sex Abuse. Over the years, I’ve seen a marked change in how society views and talks about child sexual abuse. Our organization has often cited the Catholic Church as a case study of sexual abuse — just like the one with Jerry Sanduski at Penn State; Larry Nassar and his enablers at USA Gymnastics and the Boys Scouts of America. We used to be shocked and surprised by these predators and survivor stories making the news. These stories would peak in the press and then life for all of us would return back to “normal.”
The reality is that these circumstances have been taking place for decades. As a culture we were passive about a topic that was always swept under the rug — across all cultures and socioeconomic levels. Now, we have more than enough case studies, forums and press coverage with real stories that validate the prevalence of child sex abuse. We know it occurs, and by whom, and the tactics that perpetrators use. Let’s get proactive now and with urgency about the Next Frontier of Protecting Kids in Illinois: Educator Sexual Abuse.
In 2004, Dr. Carol Shakeshaft was contracted by Department of Education to conduct a study of sexual abuse in U.S. schools. It included areas of: prevalence of educator sexual misconduct, offender characteristics, targets of educator sexual misconduct, and recommendations for prevention of educator sexual misconduct. It also revealed the often cited statistic that 1 in 10 kids grades K-12 will be sexually abused by an educator or staff member. A group of researchers recently published an updated version of this report that brought more dimension to this epidemic.
Illinois is not exempt from the pervasiveness of Educator Sexual Abuse. In Chicago Public Schools, the Office of Inspector General (OIG) issued its report in January that revealed it opened 1,735 cases of sexual abuse allegations. Of those cases, 302 of them led to investigations substantiating a CPS policy violation, and 18 involved criminal charges filed by prosecuting agencies. While the Catholic Church has provided transparency with a listing of its offenders, a recent FOIA request to CPS would not provide at the minimum the names of the 18 who were criminally charged. How is it possible that we can’t get more information when our tax dollars are paying for these teachers’ salaries? Even when information isn’t available to us as parents, we don’t need to go far to get more context. Guess what? Our kids are talking about these creeps amongst themselves and exposing them on social media.
We don’t need to wait another 20 years for yet another report to explain the outcomes of Educator Sexual Abuse in Illinois. Bad actors in our schools take advantage of the lack of transparency to prey on our children. I want our lawmakers to make it clear that Illinois does not make it easy for predators to access our children in schools. I want the legislation that protects kids in schools not to be compromised by associations that represent the interests of teachers. I want to live in a state where there are consequences for an adult who preys on my child at school. Hey lawmaker, would you want a teacher to prey on your child?
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Tania Haigh is a passionate advocate for protecting children from harm. Through her work as co-founder of Parents Against Child Sex Abuse (PAXA), Tania identified a need to elevate parents’ voices addressing child protection.
After five years taking on one of the toughest epidemics impacting children, Tania has disrupted the child protection space launching the #KIDSTOO movement in November 2021. Beyond the hashtag, KIDS TOO builds on child sexual abuse, online safety and child poverty. Tania’s commitment to this work reflects her tenacity in solving for these areas.
Tania’s rigor has been consistent in her 20+ year career in Business, more notably a decade at McDonald’s USA leading Family Marketing & the Happy Meal; an entrepreneur supporting brands like Nutella; producer as TEDxOakParkWomen founder and as a public speaker.
