Irony: halls of learning can also be venues of child abuse

Our children are at once the most impressionable and vulnerable demographic within our society, possessed of breathtaking promise yet simultaneously needing to be duly supervised and watched with care while they grow and mature.

We all want what’s best for our kids, and know intuitively that promoting their interests encompasses involving them in activities that include their peers. Children need to be in school. They need to participate in structured programs focused upon art, music, sports and a number of other extracurricular pursuits.

That’s what schools are for. The same is true of youth-focused organizations, churches and other groups where adult teachers, coaches and mentors take in our kids and engage them in activities to help them grow.

Unquestionably, children routinely benefit from such participation.

But not always.

Sadly, and as we note on our personal injury website at the Los Angeles law firm of Taylor & Ring, “many perpetrators of sexual abuse toward children take these safe havens (schools, youth clubs and so forth) as an opportunity to meet, groom, exploit and abuse new victims.”

As awful as that is, it’s also logical, isn’t it? Kids are a captive audience when they participate in adult-supervised activities, and they willingly posit trust and even love in those who are guiding their activities.

When that innocent acceptance is exploited in heinous ways, a child’s world — and that of his or her family members — can be turned upside down.

Justice demands that perpetrators of child sexual abuse be routinely identified and punished for their crimes.

It further requires, too, though, that the group vetting the qualifications of an authority figure and allowing that person to be in the midst of children be held accountable when that individual turns out to be a criminal.

As we note on our site, our law firm “seeks to hold the institution or organization accountable for its role” in any instance where a child is harmed.

Only a full accounting of those who commit or otherwise abet criminal acts against children can ever suffice to truly address and help eradicate such a pernicious evil.