I had a wonderful conversation today with a long-term member. The question was asked, “Melodie, why is abuse still so prevalent when we are doing so much to prevent it?”

The short answer is: prevention is making a difference, but prevention cannot eliminate human brokenness, power imbalances, opportunity, or deliberate choices to harm others.

I identified six things that are happening simultaneously:

1. 1. 1. We are better at recognizing and reporting abuse.
   2. Some of what appears to be an increase is actually an increase in disclosure. People who would have suffered in silence 20 or 30 years ago may now recognize what happened to them, have language for it, and know where to report it. That is painful, but it is also progress.
   7. 2. Abuse is fundamentally about the misuse of power and trust.
   8. Policies can regulate environments, but they cannot change the heart of someone who intentionally chooses to exploit another person. A person determined to abuse may look for weaknesses in systems, relationships, and supervision. Unfortunately, society is influencing how people spend their time and energy. Pornography is on the rise, and sexual content is available on prime-time television shows.
   13. 3. Predators are smart and they adapt.
   14. As organizations become better at identifying certain behaviours, people who intend harm can become more sophisticated in how they build trust, gain access, manipulate relationships, and avoid detection. That's why safeguarding has to be ongoing rather than a one-time training exercise.
   19. 4. Most abuse doesn't happen because there is no policy.
   20. It can happen because policies aren't implemented consistently, concerns aren't taken seriously, boundaries gradually erode, people don't know what to do with a disclosure, or an organization protects its reputation instead of protecting the vulnerable person. Churches, charities and not-for-profits that once were diligent with safeguarding have let down their guard and become lax in supervision.
   25. 5. We cannot safeguard through rules alone.
   26. Policies, screening, training, reporting procedures and supervision are essential—but they need to be accompanied by a culture of accountability. People need permission to ask questions, challenge leaders, report concerns, and act when something doesn't feel right. Unfortunately, I hear of too many incidents where the culture of the organization discourages whistleblowing or asking hard questions and raising concerns.
   31. 6. Prevention is bigger than stopping the first incident.
   32. Sometimes we think prevention means "nothing bad happened." A more realistic measure is whether we have reduced opportunity, increased accountability, recognized warning signs earlier, responded appropriately to concerns, and prevented one incident from becoming ten.
5. And there is one thing particularly important for those of us who have been doing this work for a long time:
10. The continued existence of abuse does not mean our prevention work has failed.
15. My husband often reminds me, “Melodie, it won’t be until you reach heaven, that you really know how many children and individuals you have protected.” If stronger screening prevented one person from gaining access to vulnerable people, that's prevention. If a volunteer recognized grooming behaviour and reported it, that's prevention. If a survivor finally felt safe enough to disclose, that's progress. If an organization responded appropriately to the first concern rather than dismissing it, potentially significant further harm may have been prevented.
18. Perhaps the better question isn't "Why hasn't all this prevention stopped abuse?"
23. It's:
24. "How do we continue building environments where abuse is harder to commit, easier to recognize, safer to report, and more appropriately addressed when it occurs?"
29. That is the work of safeguarding. And unfortunately, it is work we will probably never be finished with. But that doesn't make the work futile. It makes the work necessary.(I may need to live as old as Methuselah -- 969 years old).
34. Finally, safeguarding has to happen alongside good mentoring, coaching and discipleship. It has to exist alongside creating a culture of goodness, transparency, humility and righteousness.