Child sexual abuse is a social illness that continues to devastate thousands of American families. According to the Department of the Children and Families, an estimated 500,000 babies in the United States in 2013 will be sexually abused before the age of 18. A recent study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2006 concluded that approximately “1 in 3 girls and 1 in 5 boys are sexually abused before their 18 th birthday.” Essentially, there are more than 42 million adult survivors of child sexual abuse. The long term implications of child sexual abuse and its damaging psychological and emotional effects have yet to be studied conclusively. The primary reason that the public is unaware of the enormity of the child sexual abuse problem is the stigma commonly associated with its victims. 73% of child victims fail to disclose the abuse to an adult or authority figure within a year of being victimized. Only a mere 45% of child sexual trauma victims ever disclose their abuse at all (Smith et. Al, 2000; Broman-Fulks et al, 2007). There is a tendency of male victims to suppress their trauma and abuse for fear of embarrassment, humiliation, and the appearance of being emasculated. Similarly, female victims also fail to report the crime because of humiliation, embarrassment, and backlash from their family and respective communities. The Laurens Kids Organization was founded in 2007 by Lauren Book, a victim and survivor of child sexual abuse. Ms. Book was victimized between the ages of 11 to 16 by a female domestic maid. She uses her subsequent life experiences to counsel, educate, and bring awareness to the problem of child sexual abuse: No one would have ever suspected what Lauren was going through during her adolescent years. She was the prototypical honor student: straight A’s, model citizen, blonde-haired, blue-eyed beauty pre-teen, full of life. Her father was a prominent attorney and lobbyist who traveled extensively 3 to 4 months out of the year. Her mother was gravely sick, and suffered from mental illness. Lauren’s nanny essentially became her surrogate mother, nurturer, and caregiver.
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