Saint Monica Home. Augustinian Recollects. Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil.

“We need to discuss, provoke conversations”. Saint Monica Homes has produced a series of videos on social media to raise awareness, together with the newspaper O Povo, against the violence that affects children and adolescents.

A series of videos on social media warn about the importance of educating children and adolescents, raising awareness in society, determining the main causes and consequences and initiating complaints and police reports in the fight against abuse, exploitation and sexual violence against children and adolescents.

One of the videos focuses on daily actions to protect children and adolescents against sexual abuse, through simple acts that have a great impact on the lives of children.

In this way, it is invited to frequently establish a dialogue about the privacy of intimate parts of the body and learn the meaning of modesty; also that children must soon learn and understand that they are the owners of their actions and can and should say “No” without feeling guilty when faced with offers that go against their freedom.

It also invites guidance on the most common risk situations and how to protect oneself and warn other adults about the unclear intentions of potential aggressors; and, finally, it encourages the explanation that “secrets” are not good, that whenever someone tries to hide a proposal or action, it is most likely that something is wrong.

The second video discusses the main precautions against child abuse. It is the duty of all adults who have regular contact with minors, especially when they are under their care: sexual education is good and necessary.

In this way, it is easy to teach concepts of self-protection, consent, bodily integrity, feelings and how to manage them, and the differences between pleasant, affectionate and encouraging touches, versus invasive ones, which have other objectives such as abuse.

In this case, families are invited to supervise the Internet, instruct their children not to respond to messages from strangers, and never to send photos of any kind or provide personal data or information that could facilitate unwanted personal encounters.

In these cases, adults should also observe the behavior of minors, pay attention to how the child behaves in front of people close to him or her, or try to find out why he or she shows disdain for someone for whom he or she should initially have affection. Most abuses occur at home, and most aggressors belong to the child’s closest circle.

The third video promotes conscious citizenship among adults by recalling an article of the Brazilian Constitution (227) that speaks for itself:

“It is the duty of the family, society, and the State to ensure that children, adolescents, and young people, with absolute priority, have the right to life, health, food, education, leisure, professional training, culture, dignity, respect, freedom, and family and community life, in addition to protecting them from all forms of neglect, discrimination, exploitation, violence, cruelty, and oppression.”

Finally, these videos invite people to report any act of violence against children and adolescents; Reporting is the first step to freeing victims and preventing aggressors from continuing to harm this and other children with impunity.

There are several ways to do this: in Brazil, there is a telephone number 100 for this type of report; and it is also worth remembering that the Child Protection Council, the Civil Police, specialized police stations, the Military Police and the Federal Highway Police have the authority to help in these cases.

For crimes committed via the Internet, social networks and messaging apps, there is a specific link from the authorities for any type of crime against children and adolescents (Safernet system).

The Saint Monica Home continues its fight in defense of children and adolescents. In recent months, it has had some important partnerships; for example, the Post Office and the Judicial Commission for International Adoption of Ceará (Cejai) brought Christmas presents to the beneficiaries of the Home.

Previously, it was the Consulate of the Federal Republic of Germany, represented by consuls Johannes Bloos and Marlene Pinheiro, who visited the institution to learn about its tasks and encourage its action.

And in January, Saint Monica Homes participated in a campaign on social media by Marcenaria Revest, competing for basic food baskets.