The Community Child Protection Team and Child Fatality Prevention Team have decided to bring Darkness to Light Stewards of Children Training to Polk County, and every adult in Polk County is invited to participate.

“Every adult in Polk County can become a Steward of Children,” says Kiesa Kay, training facilitator. “Polk County could become a haven for healthy, innocent children and teens, and the country’s first real safety zone. We could become the first county to prioritize protecting the innocence of our children above all other values.”

Kay has participated in 186 child abuse investigations as a forensic interviewer, and the experience showed her the need for effective prevention education. One in every four girls and one in every six boys will be sexually assaulted by the age of 18, according to FBI statistics.

“If child sexual abuse were a disease, it’d be an epidemic,” Kay says. “And yet, not many people want to give up three hours on a summer day to go talk about it. These first trainings will draw attention from activists and people with a strong level of caring for our county’s kids.”