Skip to content
Opens in a new window
How Can We Protect Kids from Sexual Exploitation Without Scaring Them?
09 September 2026

How Can We Protect Kids from Sexual Exploitation Without Scaring Them?

Creating a Family: Talk about Adoption, Foster & Kinship Care

About

Drop us some Fan Mail. Thanks!

How can parents protect kids from sexual exploitation without teaching them to fear the world around them? For adoptive, foster, and kinship families, this question can feel especially important when raising children who have experienced trauma, abuse, neglect, disrupted attachment, or other challenges that may affect trust, boundaries, and their need for connection. In this episode, child safety advocate and author CJ Scarlet, also known as The Badass Grandma, joins us to discuss how parents and caregivers can help kids recognize grooming and unsafe situations, trust their instincts, set healthy boundaries, identify trusted adults, and build the confidence and practical safety skills they need. We also explore how parents can become the safe, responsive adults their children will turn to when something goes wrong—without placing the responsibility for preventing sexual exploitation on the child.

Resources:

    thebadassgrandma.comheroickids.appProtecting Our Kids from Sexual Exploitation Understanding How Positive Childhood Experiences (PCEs) Help Kids Thrive 

Support the show

Please leave us a rating or review.  This podcast is produced by www.CreatingaFamily.org. We are a national non-profit with the mission to strengthen and inspire adoptive, foster & kinship parents and the professionals who support them.

Creating a Family brings you the following trauma-informed, expert-based content:

    Weekly podcastsWeekly articles/blog postsResource pages on all aspects of family building