"28 Count Sex Case Filed" --- TulsaWorld, May 30, 2007.

"Female Sex Offenders Making Headlines" --- Washington, D.C. www.nbc4.com, June 21, 2007.

"7 Sex Offenders who used MySpace arrested" --- USA Today, June 15, 2007.

"How to Win Girls and Go to Jail" --- New York Post, March 21, 2007.

These recent headlines are examples of the way the media deals with the issue of child sexual abuse in our communities. The stories always point to what happened after the child was already victimized. That's "news" and it will probably always be that way. Headlines sell newspapers and a headline that says something like "Mother recognizes grooming behavior and stops sex offender" is not "news" --- at least not to the general public.

However, a careful reading of news stories and interviews of parents and other responsible adults after a child molester is arrested tells us that learning how to identify grooming behaviors and stop offenders before they abuse is the "news" of the future. We are on the right track and we have to keep up the good work.

Identifying the behaviors of an adult who is a potential risk of harm to children and taking action to intervene is the key to protecting children. In story after story, the adults in the environment noticed something that left them feeling uncomfortable and uneasy --- but they ignored their concern because the person was so "nice" or seemed so "genuine."

Without fail, the behaviors that these adults pointed to are the signs we learn about in the Protecting God's Children® for Adults sessions. They see people who live alone that have kids coming in and out of their homes all the time. They notice the adults who are always volunteering to be with the kids, or chaperone events, or manage the children or young people at events --- the adults who are always willing to "take the kids off your hands."

They notice the adults who always seem to have a special gift for a specific child and a really good reason why that child was being singled out. They notice the adults who spend time alone with children or young people or seem to spend a good deal of time with them in places that are "out of sight." These adults seem to be very familiar with the children and young people, always having their arms around shoulders or patting them on the backside.

Sometimes the adults observing this behavior admitted to talking with each other about their concerns but they never took the next step. They never approached the adult in question or that persons' supervisor about the inappropriate behavior. They never spoke up. Instead, they felt the need to validate their concerns by talking them over with another adult.

They did not trust their own instincts because they were also being groomed by the offender. Their interactions with the offender left them with both a concern about what they were observing and an uneasy feeling about challenging behavior they thought was odd or inappropriate. After all, this was a really nice guy or girl that seemed to genuinely care about kids.

This is classic sex offender behavior --- those who molest children must manipulate us and convince us that they can be trusted. They must convince us to overlook the behaviors that are questionable or completely inappropriate.

It is up to us to avoid these traps. We must trust our instincts and interrupt situations that raise concerns. We must continue to raise our awareness about adult behaviors that are questionable. We must become experts at both recognizing inappropriate or risky behavior and in speaking up in favor of protecting children.

Child molesters have proven time and time again that they are willing to do whatever it takes to gain access to children. They will lie, cheat and manipulate to protect themselves and create an environment where they have complete access to children. As we become masters of the tools offered in Protecting God's Children® we can begin to thwart those intentions and create a safe environment for all God's children.

We owe it to our children. We owe it to ourselves. We owe it to our communities to diligently continue training ourselves to recognize the adults in our midst who pose a risk to our children and to stop them before they get the chance to act on their desires.

Sharon Womack Doty, Esq., is a child sexual abuse prevention consultant to the VIRTUS programs. This article is the copyrighted property of The National Catholic Risk Retention Group, Inc. (Copyright @ 1999-2007 by the National Catholic Risk Retention Group, Inc., all rights reserved), and is reprinted here with permission. For more information about VIRTUS@Online or other VIRTUS® services, visit www.virtus.org or call (888) 847-8870. For the Office of Safeguard the Children of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, contact Joan Vienna, director, at jvienna@la-archdiocese.org or call (213) 637-7227. This weekly series of feature stories, commentary and analysis is compiled and edited by an advisory group to the Media Relations Office of the Archdiocese, through which the articles are distributed.