The news that “just” broke that Penn State University Coaches, Administration and just about everyone involved with the football team knew that Jerry Sandusky, their former Penn State Defensive Coordinator was abusing children and turned a blind eye. By not calling the police and reporting this criminal behavior these children were abused a second time.

              We are disgusted, saddened and outraged that this abuse continued to go on unchecked for decades.When the “situation” about Sandusky came up to Joe Paterno, he told Sandusky he “was not to bring children to Penn State.”  What does that mean? Why? He knew child abuse was happening and just did not want it happening on his “turf.”

           All of these men are culpable and all deserve to go to jail. Adults need to stop protecting the pedophiles and start protecting children. Our children are no match for a “Well revered, smart, savvy child molester,” especially when the good ‘ole boys network is keeping his secret. The only positive aspect about this story is that it is out in the open and the world can wake up and realize the scope of this man’s destruction of innocent lives, maybe save some children from abuse – and perhaps it will bring some healing to the victims. It is unfortunate that it has to take big headliners for this to make the news as a report of child abuse is made every 10 seconds.

                           The focal point here for this blog is about ALL the people who knew and did nothing. To know that something is wrong, to even have been a direct witness of child abuse and yet not report is almost as criminal as the abuse itself. What kind of world have we become that we will go to such great lengths to protect pedophiles before protecting our children?  Across our nation we are asking kids to “report” bullying abuse so they can get the help they need before things get out of control. How can we expect kids to have the courage to report abuse when adults can’t even report – and many of them are mandated reporters?

                                We know from research that many child molesters are seemingly “upstanding citizens” often married with children. They lead a double life. This is a complicated psychological issue as to how savvy these child molesters are – in their own way they groom not only the child they are abusing but the entire community they are in.  Dottie Huck, a board member of the nonprofit Sandusky started called Second Mile, an organization for children who need additional support and who would benefit from positive human contact,  stated, speaking personally, Sandusky has “done some wonderful things in his lifetime and we should try to help him. … We all make little mistakes in our lives.”

                       Really? If these allegations prove to be true…which we believe they will be… these are not ‘little mistakes.’  “HE RAPED CHILDREN.”  We believe Sandusky founding a charity to help children is like giving kids the key to the candy store.

                  In an institution such as Penn State there are politics that surround the world of athletics. Joe Paterno is a beloved Coach and they win games and bring in money. It seems that money and politics ranked higher than protecting children.  So whose voice did it take to be the brave one, the whistle blower so to speak in this tragedy? A 15 year old boy (in 2009). This brave boy did not report to save himself, but reported to save another boy from being abused. This boy deserved the right to be safe and the adults let him down.

               We believe that by providing Prevention Education to both children and adults we can help break the cycle of silence that surrounds child abuse and stop it in its tracks. I know it sounds simplistic – but “Adults and children don’t know…what they don’t know” and we need to educate adults on the dangers, empower adults to listen to their instincts and always err on the side of protecting children (which we know is hard because often the adult knows the offender too). We need to educate children that they have the RIGHT to be safe, the RIGHT to have a voice and the RIGHT to access help.

              So after you read this blog, we ask you to search your soul. We ask Joe Paterno, Athletic Director Tim Curley, and interim Vice President for Finance and Business Gary Schultz, when you lay your head to rest at night – can you sleep well knowing you have done the right thing and you have protected children? We think not! You will have to live with the fact that you played a huge part in killing who these children could have been.

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