Missouri Children's Trust Fund

Legislature asked to expand sex abuse prevention program

Two years ago, Missouri had almost ten-thousand reported cases of sex abuse or child neglect. Experts say only about half of the incidents are ever reported, and as many as one-third of the abuses occur before the child is 7. The legislature is being asked to expand statewide a sex abuse-prevention program from St.Louis.

The St.Louis Jewish Family and Childrens Services has a program that reaches 17-thousand children, teachers and parents each year. Spokesman H. Louis Albert says it's cheap..and it works. He says children aged 4-12 are told how to keep themselves from sexual abuse, abuduction and other threats. He says the programs are taught in a safe and non-threatening manner and cost less than ten dollars per child. He says that is far less expensives than the costs of treating victims of abuse later in their lives---or treating the children THEY abuse.

Albert says victims of childhood sexual abuse are six times more likely to abuse their own children than are people who have not been abused. He's urging the legislature to give the social services department money to contract with not-for-profit groups similar to his in other parts of Missouri. [AUDIO: Missourinet report :60 MP3]

Governor Blunt: Keep kids safe online

Spending another half a million dollars is nothing to flinch at for Governor Matt Blunt when it comes to keeping kids safe. So he’s recommending to double last year’s funding for detective salaries and personnel training and spend another quarter million on computer equipment in order to boost protection for children from online sex predators.

Blunt’s recommendation would boost funding for the Cyber Crimes Grant Program to 750-thousand dollars. He says the state has passed one of the toughest version of Jessica’s Law to minimize that threat. But he says the state can’t get tough without the cash to man the operation. The grant program funds the Multi-jurisdictional Cyber Crimes Task Forces established when legislators passed Missouri’s version of Jessica’s Law last year. [Audio: Report by Missourinet's Laura McNamara :60 MP3]