Resource kit to help kids protect themselves against sexual abuse

It includes a video about body safety and a course for educators, parents and caregivers

- Shermaine Ang

Someone touched me, and it made me feel scared. What should I do?" Should I: • (a) scare the person; • (b) ignore it, I'll feel better later; or • (c) tell someone I trust straight away?

A new video about body safety, among other resources to help children protect themselves against sexual abuse, hopes to provide them with the right response to such questions.

Targeted at children aged four to nine, the resources include a mobile game, an e-learning course and videos.

The Garden of Safety Resource Kit was launched by family violence specialist centre Pave together with its community partners at the Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS) on Oct 16.

The resources will be rolled out to schools, pre-school centres and children's homes in Singapore.

Dr Sudha Nair, executive director of Pave, said: "In close collaboration with our community and education partners, we hope to create a movement in Singapore where knowledge is a powerful tool in preventing any forms of abuse."

An inaugural report on domestic violence trends by the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) in September showed that the number of new Tier 1 child abuse cases, defined as those with low to moderate safety and risk concerns, rose 17 per cent from 2,377 in 2021 to 2,787 in 2023.