EVANSVILLE — Officials announced this week that Holly’s House, a child abuse and victims advocacy center based in Evansville, launched a new website for its updated abuse prevention program, offering materials for educators, parents, and kids.
The program’s rebranding, now titled “Brave Boundaries,” follows years of effort to develop a curriculum that can swiftly respond to the fast-changing world of social media and advancements in artificial intelligence, which specialists claim have sped up concerning patterns in how abuse and solicitation affect children online.
Brave Boundaries seeks to stop abuse in both physical and digital environments by teaching children and adults about proper limits, increasing awareness, and providing education, as stated by officials from Holly’s House. The program’s materials will be offered at no cost to any Indiana school that requests them.
“Brave Boundaries” is a program designed to teach children about their right to safety, helping them recognize situations that make them feel secure and those that don’t, as well as educating them on the concept of abuse,” said Kristine Cordts, Executive Director of Holly’s House, in an interview.
The program features a website along with resources for parents, teachers, and children.
Holly’s House, situated at 750 No. Park Dr. on Evansville’s North Side, is a non-profit organization that supports children and adults who have experienced intimate crimes and abuse. Established in 2008 by former Evansville Police Department Detective Brian Turpin and Holly Dunn Pendleton, the group mainly serves the Southwestern Indiana area, although Brave Boundaries is approved for use in schools throughout the state.
Holly’s House also helps law enforcement, child welfare organizations, and prosecutors in the area with delicate child abuse and sexual crime investigations. The group emphasizes that it does not represent law enforcement and employs forensic interviewers who help detectives communicate with children and victims.
Although the Brave Boundaries program will be offered in classrooms as a state-mandated requirement for school districts to deliver certified abuse prevention education to students, the initiative can also be delivered online — a method that Holly’s House notes has grown more common since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Before the pandemic, we were offering prevention education to 10,000 students annually,” Cordts stated. “Now, we nearly reached 20,000 students in the past year.
The program’s curriculum incorporates numerous studies and up-to-date, evidence-backed methods for preventing abuse, as stated by Cordts, who mentioned that a collaboration between Holly’s House, the Indiana Youth Institute, and the Lilly Endowment made the new website possible.
The site, which is accessible atbraveboundaries.org, includes parts created forparents, caregivers and educators, along with a part intended for use by children aged 10 and olderYounger children are advised to visit the website with the assistance of a parent or guardian.
We viewed the website as a chance,” Cordst stated. “What about the school that isn’t scheduling us this year, and what about all those students? How do we ensure their safety? And how do we guarantee that the parents have a chance to learn about the curriculum and understand how to keep their children safe?
Holly’s House mentions that the Brave Boundaries website served as a method to tackle those issues. The part intended for parents and guardians addresses inappropriate online activities, explains how parents can talk about abuse and internet safety with their kids, outlines steps to take if a child confesses to being abused, and provides over a dozen responses to some of the most common questions parents have.
Holly’s House focuses on combating digital exploitation and mistreatment
Brave Boundaries is the newest version of Holly’s House’s child abuse prevention efforts, which since 2010 have used the “Think First & Stay Safe” curriculum. However, several years ago, Cordts mentioned that Holly’s House saw a need to develop programs that could be adapted more swiftly to keep up with fast changes in technology and social media, where abusers are increasingly focusing on children.
Holly’s House chose to develop its programming internally, according to Cordts, and started collaborating with a group of employees and experts to create an advanced, nationally-recognized curriculum for preventing abuse. This initiative aimed to tackle increasing instances of online exploitation, resulting in the Brave Boundaries program and website this year.
We felt that the existing curriculum isn’t evolving fast enough to meet our needs,” Cordts stated. “As a child advocacy center and the place where investigations take place, we witness emerging trends in this type of crime and observe how children react to them… We want parents to understand how to respond to these threats, whether they occur face-to-face or online.
According to Childlight Global Child Safety Institute, over 300 million children are affected by technology-enabled exploitation and abuse annually worldwide, equivalent to 10 new instances every second.
In a report released by Childlight and the University of Edinburghlast year, experts reported that one out of eight, approximately 12.6% of children, had experienced “non-consensual taking, sharing, and exposure to sexual images and videos” within the previous year.
The Brave Boundaries initiative tackles these growing, and possibly escalating, trends, Cordts mentioned. The child-oriented part of the program’s website, for instance, informs children on what they should do “if someone online pretends to be my friend and asks me to send private photos,” and how a child should respond if “someone says they’ll share my pictures unless I comply with their request.”
Our website is centered on the questions children ask us during class,” Cordts stated. “The site was created with those issues in mind.
What parents should know
Holly’s House focuses on fostering open dialogue among parents, guardians, and children, considering it a key method for both preventing and addressing abuse. The Brave Boundaries website offers various communication resources designed to assist parents and caregivers in handling tough discussions.
Here are some of Cordts’ recommendations for parents and guardians:
- Ensure you engage with your children during dinner, while driving, and on the way to and from school or after-school activities: “That period is priceless.”
- Keep track of who your children are interacting with and the methods they use to communicate: “Be aware of who is seeking to spend time with your child, both online and offline.”
- Make sure your children understand that you are attentive and that they can turn to you when they require support.
- Keep informed about developments in artificial intelligence and the potential risks posed by new applications, websites, and tools to children’s safety: “We hope parents understand that it’s not only humans online; there are AI bots that could interact with your kids.”
Holly’s House also suggests looking into tools that can track children’s internet usage, although Cordts mentioned that parents should never set up a tracking app without first talking to their child. One of the applications Holly’s House often advises parents to use isBark, a subscription-based application that requires payment, is accessible on iOS and Android devices.. It tracks messages, social media, online behavior, and other apps on a child’s phone to detect indicators of cyberbullying, abuse, and inappropriate material, along with additional functionalities.
The growing occurrence of online child exploitation is a major issue for Holly’s House, partly due to research indicating a concerning connection between online mistreatment and teenage suicide.
It’s definitely frightening to consider everything your children might be going through online or in school,” Cordts stated. “However, this presents a chance to establish trust with your child and convey that they deserve to feel secure.
Houston Harwood may be reached at houston.harwood@courierpress.com.
This piece first was published in the Evansville Courier & Press:Holly’s House child protection initiatives address both emerging and longstanding dangers
