Title: 
Headings: 

Content: Ultimately the goal of sexual grooming is to provide the perpetrator the opportunity to offend against the child without detection. In Sandusky’s case, these crimes went on for over 20 years before he was apprehended. These sexual grooming techniques will confuse the child as they believe the person to be a friend or parent-like figure and thus they may fearthat if they report the abuse that their special relationship may end. The abuser may also use threats and coercion once the abuse starts to suggest to the victim that no one will believe them, or that the minor will be blamed for the abuse because they wanted it. As the abuser has also often groomed the victim’s guardians and community, adults often trust the perpetrator and may not be suspicious of the grooming behaviors or changes in the child’s behaviors. The key to understanding grooming is that it is very hard to detect when it is happening as many of the grooming behaviors in and of themselves appear completely innocuous, and in many cases they are. In fact, research shows that people are generally quite poor at identifying grooming behaviors before it is revealed that abuse has occurred. It is only in hindsight that the behaviors appear suspicious. That is why it is especially important to know who is around your children and be aware of how they are interacting with your child. While this may result in you being an overly suspicious parent, it is always better to be safe than sorry.