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Chris Yadon About Chris Yadon

Chris Yadon is the Managing Director of Saprea, and is responsible for managing all operations and services of Saprea in both Utah and Georgia. Yadon has spent most of his professional career in start-up executive management with an emphasis in operations, marketing, and sales. Since joining Saprea in 2015, Yadon has brought a valuable skillset to the organization and is committed to addressing the epidemic of child sexual abuse. His expertise centers on increasing awareness arond this epidemic and educating the public on best practices for prevention and the healing services available to survivors. Yadon has been featured across several regional and national media platforms where he is often requested as an industry thought leader and expert.

Child Sex Trafficking Is Personal, Not Political

Posted on August 7, 2023 - 1:47 pm by

Saprea > Blog > All Blogs > Child Sex Trafficking Is Personal, Not Political

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Child Sex Trafficking Is Personal, Not Political

By: Chris Yadon, Laurieann Thorpe, Jake Neeley

The current surge of awareness and attention on child sex trafficking is both encouraging and disheartening. It is encouraging because we, as a society, are finally acknowledging this horrific practice. It is disheartening because our current dialogue about the issue of child sex trafficking is inconsistent with the most prevalent risks in our nation and local communities. This dialogue fails to recognize the realities of how, when, and where most children are trafficked for sex. To make it worse, individuals are choosing to politicize the issue with the intent to gain power. Leveraging a non-political issue for political gain is another form of exploitation and can do additional harm, including compounding existing trauma, to child sex trafficking survivors.

Our common humanity calls on us to act when we become aware of any injustice. Child sex trafficking being used as a political tool is one of those injustices. Rather than letting ourselves buy into the dialogue placing child sex trafficking into the political sphere, let’s focus on ways to understand the realities of the issue and protect children against traffickers and sexual exploitation.

In order to protect children against the risks of child sex trafficking, we as a society need to move to productive dialogue around the issue, capitalize on the positives of the current awareness, and take effective preventative action.

Move to Productive Dialogue 

If we want to make the dialogue around the issue productive, it needs to be based on concrete research-based facts. For example, the majority of child sex trafficking victims in the U.S. were trafficked by a member of their family and nearly 46% were trafficked by a parent/guardian.1

This context is critical to understanding the issue. It prompts us to focus our protective efforts and dialogue away from strangers and abductions and toward strengthening homes and families. Of course, abductions do occur with trafficking, but they are rare relative to the overall issue. Focusing solely on protecting against abductions makes us more likely to miss the much more common forms of trafficking happening all around us. When we understand that child sex traffickers are more likely to target children close to them, the signs and warnings that we watch for will shift. When we are watching for the most likely scenarios, we are much more likely to be prepared to spot and help child sex trafficking victims through the proper channels.

A second researched-based fact that can guide productive dialogue is that 87% of youth who are trafficked for sex have experienced sexual abuse prior to being trafficked.2 As the saying goes, correlation is not causation, but when correlations are as high as 87%, we need to pay attention. This realization drives our efforts to address not only child sex trafficking but other types of child sexual abuse. With earlier interventions, we can better prevent not only the initial abuse a child may experience, but also lower the risk of revictimization through sexual exploitation and other harms. Many survivors of childhood sexual abuse could be spared the lasting impacts of additional trauma if healing and protective resources were more readily available.

Promoting dialogue based around research will allow us to address real issues that survivors and those at risk of child sex trafficking face. For more research-based facts to guide your discussions, you can read through Saprea’s research brief.

Capitalize on the Positives of the Current Awareness 

With facts in hand, we are better prepared to discuss the issue of child sex trafficking. The next question is how can we utilize the positives of the current awareness levels around the issue? Discussions around child sex trafficking are rapidly increasing, and it is vital that we use that awareness to cement the issue in society’s mind. Three things can help us be successful in using current awareness levels to benefit trafficking survivors, victims, and children.

01

Focus on the issue, not on the politics.

We must do our best to not get sucked into making discussions around child sex trafficking political. Instead, we can focus on the fact that people of all different beliefs and ideologies want to protect children. We may disagree on how to do it, but we agree that children should be protected and defended. Redirect conversations you hear back to the real issue: how to protect children against the risks of trafficking.

02

Acknowledge the proximity to home.

Use the facts to talk about the risks in your own neighborhood and community. As humans, we often find it easier to focus on problems in other places affecting other people. It is much more difficult to accept that our own children are at risk of exploitation and abuse. But child sexual abuse is happening in every community in America, and we can best protect children from traffickers by acknowledging that the risk of trafficking exists everywhere. The Malouf Foundation offers a free, one-hour online training designed to help you recognize the signs of sex trafficking in your community.

03

Discuss the issue personally, not just online.

While this topic should be discussed online, in-person discussions are also critical to healthy dialogue and accurate awareness. Online conversations can easily become polarized and gloss over the nuances of the risk, often causing unnecessary harm to survivors already suffering the trauma of sexual abuse and trafficking. The issue is complex, and dialogue requires time. These deeper discussions are usually best held face-to-face, in person with family, friends, neighbors, co-workers, etc. Help create environments where people feel comfortable and safe asking difficult questions and discussing the issue.

Take Effective Preventative Action 

The natural response to awareness of a problem is the desire to act. The desire to do something is built into our biology; failure to act often creates incongruence with our beliefs. We feel more fulfilled and confident when we answer this biological call to act. While the desire to act comes easily, we often aren’t sure where to begin when it comes to acting against difficult issues like child sex trafficking.

The best place to take action is within your family and immediate community. Once you have learned about the issue, learn how to protect the children within your own communities and educate others on how they too can help. The top five principles that can protect children from traffickers and sexual abuse are:

01

Assess risky situations and practice navigating them.

02

Teach how to set and respect healthy boundaries.

03

Keep the lines of communication open.

04

Discuss sexual development.

05

Model and develop emotional well-being.

Usually, parents or primary caregivers are best equipped to teach and apply these principles. Families can create safety plans, establish and communicate their values, and share the plan with those who have roles in their child’s life. Prevent Child Abuse Utah has a sample safety plan available at its website and parents can create their own from a template.

Of course, communities can and should support the family in prevention and education efforts, but parents and caregivers must take on the primary role in protecting children against sex traffickers and abuse. Yes, protecting other people’s children is positive and noble, but focusing on others when our own homes and neighborhoods are full of risk is one of the great ironies of our current response to this issue. Protect who you can and protect where you are now. Help others to protect their own by educating on the topic and encouraging productive (and accurate) dialogue around the issue of child sex trafficking. Let’s address these misunderstandings, shift the dialogue, and do better for our children.

Additional Resources 

Finally, if you see something suspicious, call local law enforcement immediately to make a report. In addition, you may also report a tip to the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-888-373-7888 or text “info” to 233733. You should never engage with a potential trafficker or violent situation. This could put you and the person being trafficked in danger.

About the authors

  • Chris Yadon
    Managing Director of Saprea
  • Laurieann Thorpe
    Executive Director of Prevent Child Abuse Utah
  • Jake Neeley
    Executive Director of The Malouf Foundation

Each of these organizations is dedicated to ending child sexual abuse.

Recent blogs

27071:full
Male Sexual Abuse
According to the Centers for Disease Control, 1 in 13 boys in the US experience sexual abuse at some time in their childhood. And the American National Center for PTSD states that at least 1 in 10 men in our country will experience sexual assault at some point in their life. This means that sexual trauma can occur beyond childhood.
Read this article
23215:full
What to do if a Sex Offender Moves to Your Neighborhood?
You do everything you can to ensure that your kids are safe. But what do you do if a registered sex offender moves into your neighborhood? You may feel like you suddenly don’t have control over your child’s safety. A potential threat has come and you don’t know what to do. Here are some tips for managing what can feel like an overwhelming situation.
Read this article
23247:full
Before Letting Your Child Have a Sleepover
Going to a sleepover may raise the risk for a child to be sexually abused. Educated parents are the best ones to decide if a sleepover is appropriate for their child. You can eliminate the risk by not allowing a sleepover. Or, if you choose to have sleepovers, there are some things you should think through.
Read this article
SEE ALL blogs

Protection Against Sextortion Starts with Understanding the Threat

Posted on April 21, 2023 - 9:00 am by
teenage boy looking at phone while sitting on couch

Saprea > Blog > All Blogs > Protection Against Sextortion Starts with Understanding the Threat

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Protection Against Sextortion Starts with Understanding the Threat

Just over 25 years ago, I held my oldest child for the first time. It was an amazing feeling as I was flooded with intense and immediate love. It didn’t take long before that love was replaced with the realization that I was expected to nurture and provide for this new little human. My worry nearly equaled the intensity of my love. How was I going to raise a decent human being, nurture him in a positive way, and protect him from everything he would experience? These questions can be all consuming for a new parent. Fortunately love won out as our journey began together.

Any parent or primary caregiver has a list of things they do to protect their children. I am not talking about a written list, but an intuitive list that sits in their minds and guides how they raise their children. Generally, things move on and off that list based on the parent or caregiver’s past experiences, but occasionally parents face a new threat no previous generation of parents had to experience.

Sexual extortion (sextortion) is one of these threats.

Sextortion is a form of child sexual abuse where a victim is threatened or blackmailed to meet the specific demands of a perpetrator. In these cases, either the threat or the demand is sexual in nature.

Most commonly the perpetrator threatens to share sexual content about the victim (either real or faked) with the purpose of obtaining additional sexual content, sexual activity, money, or other favors from the victim.

Protecting against sextortion starts with understanding the threat. Although perpetrators gain access to extortable content through many methods, sextortion often starts with sexting or digital sharing of sexual material. It’s important to understand that the child or youth may have chosen to share the sexual material, but once shared, the material can quickly get into other people’s hands. This decision may have been influenced by a variety of factors, such as peer pressure, relationship expectations, curiosity, exploration, bullying, coercion, or a desire to impress or be included. Here are just a few of many statistics that can help us understand the threat.

  • 46.8% of youth report having received a sexted image.1
  • Data from police indicate that 90-100% of nonconsensual-distribution offenders were other youth.2
  • 72% of youth who receive a forwarded sexted image don’t report it.1
  • Only 2.6% told their parents they were being victimized.1
  • A quarter of youth justify their forwarding of a sexted image as a joke.1

Once we understand the threat, we can turn our attention to principles that can help us minimize the threat and protect our child. Here are five of the best things parents and caregivers can do to reduce the risk of sextortion:

01

Assess risky situations and practice navigating them.

The developing brain of a child and youth is not yet wired to effectively assess risky situations especially as it relates to sexual activity. We should not expect children and youth to navigate sexual activity decisions without significant adult support. For this reason, parents and caregivers should walk through various risky situations—online and offline—that could lead to sextortion and practice with the child how they might navigate the situations.

02

Teach how to set and respect healthy boundaries.

If I could only pick one principle to teach my children about risk reduction, this would be the principle. Learning how to set and hold boundaries is a life skill that pays huge dividends. For sextortion specifically, boundaries help children and youth reduce the chance that they will have sexual material available to be sextorted. Boundaries also impede perpetrators if by chance they do obtain sexual material. As a parent or caregiver, you get a double dose of protection by teaching one principle.

03

Keep the lines of communication open.

Learning to respond instead of react directly combats the shame and stigma that often prevent a victim from seeking help. A parent who can respond to a child or youth when they hear difficult things makes it more likely that the child or youth will keep the lines of communication open. Learning to respond instead of react is not easy to do when you are dealing with big emotions or serious issues. Practice responding to circumstances where your child might disclose sexting or sextortion.

04

Discuss sexual development and healthy intimacy.

Proactive big talks mixed in with a lot of responsive little talks about sexual development arm your children with an understanding of what is normal and healthy when it comes to their sexual development. This makes it more likely for them to recognize unhealthy relationships. This also helps them elevate unhealthy relationships to their parents or caregivers, allowing an opportunity for the parent or caregiver to intervene. If your child is old enough to have technology in their hands it is time to have the big talk about sextortion.

05

Model and develop emotional well-being.

Children and youth most often model what they see. Perpetrators of sextortion are looking for vulnerabilities. A child or youth who demonstrates emotional well-being reduces their risk. This is not a fix-all. Sextortion can happen to anyone, even a child or youth who is emotionally well, but risk can be reduced as we model well-being in ourselves and develop well-being in our children and youth.

Sextortion sounds scary to a parent or caregiver. And it is. Educating ourselves about how to reduce the risk allows us to combat that fear through action. We can reduce risk. We can empower our children and youth to build healthy relationships, avoid or navigate risky situations, and come to us for help if something does happen. As I reflect back on my 25 years of parenting, I can confidently say that combatting risks with knowledge, understanding, and actions allows me to focus on the joy and love of parenting. Let’s let love win out.

For additional prevention resources visit saprea.org.

About the author

Image

Chris Yadon

Managing Director
Chris Yadon is the Managing Director of Saprea, and is responsible for managing all operations and services of Saprea in both Utah and Georgia. Yadon has spent most of his professional career in start-up executive management with an emphasis in operations, marketing, and sales. Since joining Saprea in 2015, Yadon has brought a valuable skillset to the organization and is committed to addressing the epidemic of child sexual abuse. His expertise centers on increasing awareness arond this epidemic and educating the public on best practices for prevention and the healing services available to survivors. Yadon has been featured across several regional and national media platforms where he is often requested as an industry thought leader and expert.

Recent blogs

27071:full
Male Sexual Abuse
According to the Centers for Disease Control, 1 in 13 boys in the US experience sexual abuse at some time in their childhood. And the American National Center for PTSD states that at least 1 in 10 men in our country will experience sexual assault at some point in their life. This means that sexual trauma can occur beyond childhood.
Read this article
23215:full
What to do if a Sex Offender Moves to Your Neighborhood?
You do everything you can to ensure that your kids are safe. But what do you do if a registered sex offender moves into your neighborhood? You may feel like you suddenly don’t have control over your child’s safety. A potential threat has come and you don’t know what to do. Here are some tips for managing what can feel like an overwhelming situation.
Read this article
23247:full
Before Letting Your Child Have a Sleepover
Going to a sleepover may raise the risk for a child to be sexually abused. Educated parents are the best ones to decide if a sleepover is appropriate for their child. You can eliminate the risk by not allowing a sleepover. Or, if you choose to have sleepovers, there are some things you should think through.
Read this article
SEE ALL blogs

Innocent Not Ignorant: The Importance of Little Talks

Posted on January 27, 2023 - 2:48 pm by

Saprea > Blog > All Blogs > Innocent Not Ignorant: The Importance of Little Talks

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Innocent Not Ignorant: The Importance of Little Talks

Guest blog post written by Chris Yadon, Managing Director

Have you ever had a parent victory moment? It is one of those times when your kid does something that shows they are listening to you – that you are having a positive impact on them. Your chest swells with all sorts of positive feelings.

I had one of those moments the other day. I was watching a college football game with my 10-year-old son. A commercial came on about erectile dysfunction. There was a line in the commercial that encouraged you to check with your doctor to decide if your heart is healthy enough to have sex. My son looked over at me with a shy look and a little grin and said, “Dad, are they talking about THAT?” With a warm smile, I said, “Yes, they are talking about THAT.”

You may be thinking to yourself, “How is that a victory? It just sounds uncomfortable.” It was a victory moment because my son felt comfortable enough with me to engage in a little talk about healthy sexual development. He was a little shy about it, but he wasn’t ashamed or afraid. At that moment, I knew that, at least to this point in his life, we had open communication about sexuality.

Consider the alternative. Let’s say he didn’t feel comfortable. At age 10, he’s probably heard something about sex from somebody, somewhere. Even if he doesn’t understand the details, he knows enough to be curious. That curiosity could easily drive him to ask a friend about sex or, even worse, ask Google. The last thing I want is him googling erectile dysfunction or sex. That’s a disaster waiting to happen.

In past generations, keeping our kids ignorant of sex was a possibility. One might argue that the best way to defend their innocence is to maintain their ignorance until they are older. But that’s not possible in our current world. Our kids are going to run across sexuality somewhere. Maybe it will be on the playground, maybe while doing a school assignment online, or maybe while watching college football on a Saturday afternoon.

Kids will turn to parents who have had ongoing, age-appropriate dialogue with their kids about sexuality. The parents will be there in those impromptu moments to provide accurate, healthy information about sexual development. And, in time, it won’t be awkward or confusing for them or their kids.

One of the best ways to defend the innocence of our children is to give age-appropriate education through a lot of little talks. This gives them a sense of safety and confidence. Defending a child’s ignorance is not defending innocence.

About the author

Image

Chris Yadon

Managing Director
Chris Yadon is the Managing Director of Saprea, and is responsible for managing all operations and services of Saprea in both Utah and Georgia. Yadon has spent most of his professional career in start-up executive management with an emphasis in operations, marketing, and sales. Since joining Saprea in 2015, Yadon has brought a valuable skillset to the organization and is committed to addressing the epidemic of child sexual abuse. His expertise centers on increasing awareness arond this epidemic and educating the public on best practices for prevention and the healing services available to survivors. Yadon has been featured across several regional and national media platforms where he is often requested as an industry thought leader and expert.

Recent blogs

27071:full
Male Sexual Abuse
According to the Centers for Disease Control, 1 in 13 boys in the US experience sexual abuse at some time in their childhood. And the American National Center for PTSD states that at least 1 in 10 men in our country will experience sexual assault at some point in their life. This means that sexual trauma can occur beyond childhood.
Read this article
23215:full
What to do if a Sex Offender Moves to Your Neighborhood?
You do everything you can to ensure that your kids are safe. But what do you do if a registered sex offender moves into your neighborhood? You may feel like you suddenly don’t have control over your child’s safety. A potential threat has come and you don’t know what to do. Here are some tips for managing what can feel like an overwhelming situation.
Read this article
23247:full
Before Letting Your Child Have a Sleepover
Going to a sleepover may raise the risk for a child to be sexually abused. Educated parents are the best ones to decide if a sleepover is appropriate for their child. You can eliminate the risk by not allowing a sleepover. Or, if you choose to have sleepovers, there are some things you should think through.
Read this article
SEE ALL blogs

The Haven Retreat is for You. Yes! I Am Talking to You.

Posted on February 28, 2017 - 9:35 pm by

Saprea > Blog > All Blogs > The Haven Retreat is for You. Yes! I Am Talking to You.

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The Haven Retreat is for You. Yes! I Am Talking to You.

Guest blog post written by Chris Yadon, Managing Director at Saprea.

We face an interesting challenge at The Younique Foundation. We designed our services for a specific segment of women, but those women often think our services are for someone else.

Let me explain. When we started planning The Haven Retreat, we specifically wanted to create a place for the “Forgotten Survivor”—the woman who is doing okay in life; the woman who has figured out how to cope with her abuse; the woman who is high functioning; but the woman who is still affected, often deeply, by what happened so many years ago.

We wanted this retreat because there are a lot of services for the woman in crisis, but there is virtually nothing for the resilient woman who has figured out a way to cope with the crisis yet still feels many effects. We know that she still deals with the impact of her abuse, and, despite her tremendous efforts, she still feels broken.

We often hear from participants that they almost didn’t apply because they felt the spot should go to someone else, someone more “deserving.” We hear statements like:

  • “I’m doing okay. Let someone else come that is really struggling.”
  • “My abuse wasn’t as bad as other people’s. I don’t want to take a spot from them.”
  • “I’ve moved on. Help someone who is still struggling.”

At The Younique Foundation, we want the “high-functioning,” “doing okay,” “not as bad as someone else” survivor to know that our retreat is for you. We built the retreat experience for you. We want to help you move past coping to healing.

Here are two questions you can use to know if The Haven Retreat is for you.

Are you an adult woman who was sexually abused at or before age 18? 
Are you coping and even high-functioning but still feel the effects of trauma? 

If the answer to these two questions is “yes,” then we are here for you. And we want you to come. You are worth the time, the funding, and the attention.

No matter where you are on your healing journey—at the beginning, somewhere in the middle, or near the end—we are confident you will find value in what we offer.

So next time you doubt whether or not The Haven Retreat is for you, we hope there is a little voice in your head that says, “Yes! In fact, it is designed just for me.”

About the author

Image

Chris Yadon

Managing Director
Chris Yadon is the Managing Director of Saprea, and is responsible for managing all operations and services of Saprea in both Utah and Georgia. Yadon has spent most of his professional career in start-up executive management with an emphasis in operations, marketing, and sales. Since joining Saprea in 2015, Yadon has brought a valuable skillset to the organization and is committed to addressing the epidemic of child sexual abuse. His expertise centers on increasing awareness arond this epidemic and educating the public on best practices for prevention and the healing services available to survivors. Yadon has been featured across several regional and national media platforms where he is often requested as an industry thought leader and expert.

Recent blogs

27071:full
Male Sexual Abuse
According to the Centers for Disease Control, 1 in 13 boys in the US experience sexual abuse at some time in their childhood. And the American National Center for PTSD states that at least 1 in 10 men in our country will experience sexual assault at some point in their life. This means that sexual trauma can occur beyond childhood.
Read this article
23215:full
What to do if a Sex Offender Moves to Your Neighborhood?
You do everything you can to ensure that your kids are safe. But what do you do if a registered sex offender moves into your neighborhood? You may feel like you suddenly don’t have control over your child’s safety. A potential threat has come and you don’t know what to do. Here are some tips for managing what can feel like an overwhelming situation.
Read this article
23247:full
Before Letting Your Child Have a Sleepover
Going to a sleepover may raise the risk for a child to be sexually abused. Educated parents are the best ones to decide if a sleepover is appropriate for their child. You can eliminate the risk by not allowing a sleepover. Or, if you choose to have sleepovers, there are some things you should think through.
Read this article
SEE ALL blogs