A nationally recognized program on child safety endorsed by the father of Elizabeth Smart is coming to Fort Wayne, thanks to a $20,000 grant from the Paul Clarke Foundation.
The Fort Wayne Women’s Bureau is heading the three-day “train-the-trainer” radKIDS class later this month. It is for teachers, law enforcement personnel, social-service agency staff, Scout leaders and anybody else who works with children.
Fort Wayne will be the first Indiana community to develop radKIDS in a comprehensive way, offering it in a variety of venues with certified instructors, said Ronnie Greenberg, the bureau’s executive director.
“Knowledge is power,” Greenberg said. “In terms of how this fits in with the Fort Wayne
Women’s Bureau, it teaches kids how not to be victims.”
Among topics in the curriculum:
♦Safety in the home and vehicle safety
♦School safety, including bullying
♦“Out-and-about safety,” including water- and pedestrian-safety education
♦Realistic defense against abduction
♦Good, bad and uncomfortable touch
♦Stranger Tricks, including physical defense against abduction
♦Self-realization of personal power
The nonprofit radKIDS was founded in 1998 by Stephen Daley, a former law enforcement officer who holds degrees in criminal justice and education.
About 1,600 community-based instructors in more than 40 states and Canada have been trained and are now certified in radKIDS. More than 50,000 children have been given knowledge and skills to protect themselves from physical and emotional fear, confusion and panic in dangerous situations.
Based in Harwich Port, Mass., radKIDS is designed for children in kindergarten through sixth grade. Kara Etzler, who teaches self defense and assault awareness for teens at the Women’s Bureau, said that’s the age group to target.
“Even at the middle-school level, we were finding it’s too late for some of the kids,” she said, noting sixth- and seventh-graders have relayed incidents of assault, incest and rape.
Sgt. Tina Taviano, director of training for the Allen County Sheriff’s Department, agrees. She has researched radKIDS and said, “I think this will come in handy in many situations,” from teaching youngsters to recognize dangerous and harmful situations to giving them the skills and confidence to defend themselves and report incidents.
Anti-bullying education and prevention strategies represent a key focus of radKIDS training this year. According to data from the National Youth Violence Prevention Resource Center, more than 5.7 million U.S. children are involved in bullying as either victim or perpetrator.
“We have a history of bullying in the schools,” Taviano said. “Violence is a learned behavior. Let’s face it, our kids learn things at a very young age. I think we have missed the boat by not recognizing that kids can learn at this age.”
Although radKIDS teaches physical self-defense response, the program is not martial arts. Rather, it lets children know how to use gross motor skills in age-appropriate ways in cases of assault or abduction.
“Most kids are taught attacks are going to happen outside on the street, in the park.
“But what would you do if you woke up and somebody was in your bedroom?” Etzler said.
That’s why Ed Smart is a proponent of radKIDS. In 2002, his daughter Elizabeth was taken from her bedroom and held captive for nine months near Salt Lake City.
Ed Smart now serves on the organization’s board of directors. On “The Early Show” on CBS on Feb. 22, Smart said while Elizabeth’s harrowing tale ended happily with her rescue, for many families that isn’t the case.
“I think if there’s a way of helping to prevent that situation, they you should do it. I really feel that radKIDS can make a difference,” he said.
Greenberg said she wants to stress “this isn’t a Women’s Bureau program.”
“We want to have this be communitywide.”
Normally, the training runs $400 a person, but the grant will cover all but $25 of that, she said.
The goal is to have local colleges offer college credit for radKIDs- certified students who teach the program to children, Greenberg said. Colleges in other states are already doing this.
What kids are thinking
Findings from the 2001 National Survey of Parents and Kids, a project of the Kaiser Family Foundation, Nickelodeon and Children Now, revealed this about 8- to 11-year-olds:
♦74 percent said teasing and bullying occur at their schools.
♦33 percent of 10- and 11-year-olds said pressure to have sex was a big problem with kids their age.
♦51 percent said discrimination was a big problem at their schools.
♦30 percent said racism was a big problem.
♦46 percent said violence was a big problem.
Keeping kids safe
♦ What: RadKids child-safety training for adults
♦ When: Sept. 19-21
♦ Cost: $25
♦ To register: Call Kara Etzler at 424-7977. Up to 20 people can be accommodated.
