WHEW!

The first day of school! This means that the vast majority of children have adult supervision today. When schools are out, and parents typically have to work - kids become even more vulnerable to creeps. I hate school holidays when parents have to work - because only parents of rather young children bother to find child care. I personally think kids need supervision until they are out of the home. Although I would have resented the hell out of it if my parents had arranged for a baby sitter when I was 15.

Summer is traditionally the busiest time for our crisis services. Teens and "tweens" find themselves bored, looking for something to do, and little supervision. People leave their windows and doors open in the heat. Single adults spend more time in social settings and drinking and meeting new people. Kids want to prove to themselves (and others) that they are actually more grown up than they are. Predators know all this - and are on the prowl.

This summer wasn't the worst summer for teens in the Emergency Room. We had several - but not the numbers that we've seen in some years. We had the busiest spring we'd ever had, so perhaps more predators were off the streets before the summer season hit.

Now, we'll have a couple of weeks with increased calls from school guidance counselors who learn of abuse that happened over the summer but went unreported until now. We also get lots more calls the last two weeks of the semester -- when kids who have kept a lid on their "secret" all these months - but realize that over christmas break or summer break that they will be trapped with their abusers and have no choice but to tell someone.