The information is used to provide public notice and information about a registrant so a community can develop constructive safety plans for themselves and their family. The notification process will decrease a sex offender’s ability to act secretly, but parents will have the biggest impact by teaching children about personal safety. A family should develop a safety plan. Children need to be educated about safety tips for both strangers and people with whom they are familiar. Have open communication with your children and review safety tips frequently. Avoid situations that make you or your children vulnerable for an offender. For example, children and parents need to be alert to suspicious behavior such as a person who approaches children/youth without a specific reason or a person that hangs around schools, parks, or other places where children/teens frequent. Avoid scaring them but tell children not to accept rides and to stay away from a person’s home/yard they do not know. Use the buddy system when playing outdoors. Have the children tell the parents if a person tries to talk to them and call 911 if a person approaches them and no other adults are around.
Parents should define and demonstrate appropriate physical affection and teach children that they have a right to say no to anyone that is touching them in a way that makes them uncomfortable. If parents teach the child accurate sexual education and terminology for body parts, they are more likely to perceive that it is safe to confide in the parents and to be able to describe the situation, if something does occur. Without this type of information, children will have difficulty discerning what is appropriate and inappropriate. This is especially true if the perpetrator is someone they trust that is telling them that such inappropriate behavior is acceptable. Such dialogue also assures them that they won’t be in trouble and that the perpetrator is the one responsible. Encourage them to tell about inappropriate touching no matter what the person tells them. Teach them to keep telling until someone intervenes.