Safety Kid Announces Free Counseling to Abuse Victims — COLLive

Expanding its efforts to help victims of sexual abuse, Safety Kid offers free counseling in Crown Heights.

SafteyKid has been making a difference in the lives of children throughout the Orthodox and ultra-Orthodox Jewish world since its inception in 2006. Around the nation, Safety Kid communities like those in Crown Heights, NY have become an integral part of the effort to keep our children safe.

In the program’s third year, more than 5,000 children in 12 schools in Brooklyn were trained by Saftey Kid. Through thoughtful, proven education, the program trains both children and the adults we entrust them to, what is and is not appropriate, and how to handle themselves in any situation.

Now, free counseling will be available to victims of abuse, thanks to a partnership with ASAP: The Association for Sexual Abuse Prevention and Treatment. As Rabbi Nochem Kaplan, director of the Merkos Chinuch Office (which sponsors the Safety Kid program in Crown Heights) told Community News Services:

“There has been a culture change in all our mosdos as a result of the SafetyKid training of teachers and children. Nevertheless, we can help protect children and implement policies which make predatory behavior unlikely, but we cannot say that we have eliminated the scourge and we need to help victims.”