Today we’d like to introduce you to Jenna Quinn.
Jenna, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
This work is a product of my first-hand experience. I am a survivor of child sexual abuse and I know I’m not alone in having suffered this crime. It’s estimated there are over 42 million survivors of child sexual abuse in American alone. It’s also estimated that 1 in 4 girls and 1 in 6 boys are sexually abused before age 18. The American Medical Association has labeled this a silent epidemic.
This is partly because 2/3 of children don’t tell. And just like so many other survivors, my perpetrator was someone I knew and trusted. In fact, over 90% of the time a child is sexually abused by someone they know and trust. I wrote about my story in my new book Pure In Heart: A Memoir of Overcoming Abuse and Passing Jenna’s Law. But our work in prevention all started with an interview just like this! Just days after my perpetrator was sentenced to prison, the Dallas Morning News reached out to my family and I for an interview.
At 17 years old, I agreed to do the interview. After my interview, the reporter assured me that my name would not be in the paper. Suddenly, I felt a supernatural boldness rise up inside me, and I shouted, “No.” In my interview, I had just encouraged other survivors to be brave, to speak up, and seek help. It didn’t make sense for me to ask them to do this if I wasn’t brave enough to lead by example and show that there is nothing to be ashamed of by having my name published.
Many people read that article, and it sparked an array of other interviews that I agreed to do. I was also interviewed by Glamour Magazine, and they published their longest story ever on this topic in their October 2004 issue. Then I started getting calls from organizations all over the country that asked me to come and speak. At 17 years old, I started to see the true need for community education on this topic.
During college, I did my Psychology internship at The Children’s Advocacy Center. It was the same Children’s Advocacy Center I received free counseling services from after I disclosed. There are Children’s Advocacy Center’s all across the country, and they are a great resource for families to receive free counseling and court preparation services.
While gaining more experience during my internship, I saw how prevalent this crime is. I wanted to do everything I could to educate children and families on how to prevent this crime. In 2007, I gave TX State Representative Tan Parker a tour of the Children’s Advocacy Center, along with Executive Director, Dan Leal. And after this meeting, we started pursuing Jenna’s Law- a mandate for prevention education in schools.
Finally, in 2009 Texas Governor Rick Perry signed Jenna’s Law into legislation. Jenna’s Law was the first child sexual abuse prevention education mandate in the U.S for students and teachers. It mandates that each school district adopt and implement a prevention policy that educates primary and secondary school students and teachers on how to recognize and report child sexual abuse.
Now, over half the country has adopted legislation reflecting the principals of Jenna’s Law education.
Has it been a smooth road?
It’s been both smooth and also a tremendous struggle at the same time. When you are trying to break stereotypes and debunk the myths that exist around sexual abuse, it can be a real struggle. However, we have also received much national support as well.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Jenna’s Law story. Tell us more about the business.
Safety is a top priority, especially with the advancement of technology. We are known for Jenna’s Law policy and the implementation of this policy, which is training. Education is the foundation of prevention, and that’s what we are all about. The research shows that after Jenna’s Law training, educators are about four times more likely to report abuse versus their pre-training careers. We also know that when children and adults are educated about the crime, taught safety strategies on how to prevent, taught who is safe to tell, and how to report, a victimized child is more likely to get the help they need.
We have teamed up with Childhelp USA and their “Speak Up Be Safe” anti-victimization program for children and youth. Childhelp Speak Up Be Safe is a primary prevention curriculum aimed at stopping and preventing child abuse, including physical abuse, emotional abuse, sexual abuse, neglect, bullying, and cyberbullying. The content and delivery of the Pre-K through 12th-grade curricula are based on several areas of research including child development, learning styles, social psychology, and child abuse and neglect prevention.
The greatest part of our work is to see students empowered, and children and families get the help they need if they have encountered sexual abuse. Because when we don’t address this issue, we feed the deadly silence this crime thrives on. And as long as we view this as a crime, we need to be teaching how to prevent it. We teach fire drills to children, and we teach to stay away from drugs. This is no different.
We are unique in that we are not a government agency and we partner with Non-profits that work with children and youth all across the country with one goal in mind-preventing child sexual abuse. We operate through the lens of Hope and love seeing students break free from the shackles of shame and break free from suffering in silence.
How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
We have expanded into more than just the school system. Any organization that works with children and youth should have Jenna’s Law policy in place to protect children. This includes churches, after school programs, youth sports teams, and daycare centers just to name a few.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.JennaQuinn.org
- Email: Jenna@JennaQuinn.org
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jennaquinnlove/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/www.JennaQuinn.org/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/Jennas_Law
- Other: Childhelp Link https://www.childhelp.org/subs/childhelp-speak-up-be-safe/
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