The prevention of abuse, another face of fraternity Reflections for the Development of the Comprehensive Plan for the Prevention of Sexual Abuse

Abstract

The prevention of child sexual abuse is a priority in today's society and particularly in the Catholic Church, which has been affected by multiple scandals. For more than a decade, dioceses and ecclesial communities have undertaken actions aimed at the prevention of child sexual abuse. Although there is a great effort on the part of the Church in this regard, the research has led us to confirm that in many cases the intervention guidelines and prevention protocols are limited to describing and/or establishing the actions to be taken once sexual abuse has occurred and neglect the importance of establishing a protective environment that prevents sexual abuse in general or do not establish concrete guidelines for the accompaniment of victims once abuse has been detected.
This research is based on a bibliographical review of the fundamental aspects in the care of minors and vulnerable persons and those at risk, trying to validate the proposal based on the contributions of various authors. Subsequently, a review and qualitative analysis of protocols for the prevention of abuse of minors and vulnerable persons in some Dioceses of Northern Spain and other ecclesial realities has been made. This study has led us to a final discussion, which highlights the importance of an integrative model, that is: preventive, restorative and accompaniment of victims and their families.