In 2023, people in Boulder County made about 6,000 reports of child abuse, 300 of which were substantiated, or about 4.4 children out of every 1,000, according to the county Department of Housing and Human Services.
“Although that might not sound like a huge number, that is a really big number,” said Gina Earles, Blue Sky Bridge executive director. “And, of course, those are just the ones that are reported.”
In 2014, the Boulder County District Attorney’s Office saw 280 cases of child abuse filed, according to its records. In 2023, the office recorded 310 cases.
“Our belief is it is because we’re doing more education, doing more outreach, because we’re talking to grown-ups,” said Gretchen Fair, Blue Sky Bridge prevention coordinator. “I like to think that those statistics are due to all the work we’re doing to bring this to light.”
Blue Sky Bridge services
Blue Sky Bridge is a nonprofit group that provides intervention, prevention and therapy to encourage survivors of child abuse to come forward. Workers educate Boulder County residents on what child abuse can look like. The group has been in operation since 1995.
The group is a part of a countywide, multi-disciplinary team and has forensic interviewers and family support advocates to work with families and children when they come in for interviews. The group also partners with local law enforcement, the Boulder County District Attorney’s Office and the Department of Housing and Human Services.
“Children are able to talk about their experiences in a child-friendly setting, on their terms,” Earles said. “If they’re ready to talk, great. If they’re not ready to talk, we’re not going to push them to do so.”
Fair said that Blue Sky Bridge also offered a program in 63 schools last year where children as young as kindergarten and preschool age were taught the importance of body boundaries and consent.
“We have a really robust, well-validated, body safety curriculum that we use to teach kids about body boundaries, that their bodies belong to them, how to get help from an adult, things like that,” Fair said.
Child sexual abuse in Boulder County
While the group educates and supports victims of all types of child abuse including, neglect, exposure to domestic violence and physical abuse, Earles said, 70 to 80% of reported child abuse cases in Boulder County are child sexual abuse.
Fair said that teaching children about safety doesn’t excuse guardians from not talking to their children and keeping them safe.
“Let kids know if they get into something they can’t handle, to come to you,” Fair said. “So many kids are afraid of having their phones taken or having their devices taken away that they don’t want to talk to their parents. So it’s really important for the adults to get ahead of that by saying, ‘Hey, here’s things you might encounter online. If you do, you’re not in trouble. Come to me, and I want to help you.’ That’s the best prevention — conversation.”
Fair said that while the conversation might seem uncomfortable to have with young children, the average age of exposure to pornography is 9 for boys and 11 for girls.
“Silence helps abusers, it does not protect children” Fair said. “So we have to get a little bit brave and a little bit uncomfortable as adults, and if we see someone crossing a boundary, because that’s usually what you’re going to see, we need to have confidence, we need to back each other up, we need to not be afraid to ask those questions.”
National experts estimate that for every case that is reported, two or more go unreported, Earles said.
“Child sexual abuse thrives in an environment of secrecy,” Earles said. “It is incredibly prevalent, and yet it is so hidden.”
Earles said while child abuse is present in every community and demographic, certain populations face additional barriers to reporting. These communities include: LGBTQ+ individuals, people with a developmental delays, children for whom the alleged offender is a sibling or close family member, or people concerned about their immigration status.
There is also growing recognition of how domestic violence and child abuse often happen at the same time, said Christine Rinke, chief trial deputy district attorney, who supervises the sex crimes unit at the district attorney’s office.
“One form of child abuse occurs when children witness domestic violence. However, there’s also a growing understanding of the co-occurrence between domestic violence and other forms of child abuse, including emotional, physical, and/or sexual abuse,” Rinke said.
Rinke said victimized children often experience lifelong impacts and have a higher likelihood of being victimized in other ways.
Misconceptions and child abuse today
Earles hopes through education the public can destigmatize and demystify child sexual abuse. According to Fair, common misconceptions include the belief that child sexual abuse most frequently happens between a stranger and a child, the stranger is an adult, and children will speak up about abuse shortly after it happens.
Earles said, in reality, in most abuse cases the offender is known to the child. She added that in 40% of reported cases, the offender is another child and the average age for a survivor to report is 52.
“The thing about myths is it keeps us from focusing on the right thing,” Fair said. “If we think, ‘Oh, it’s only strangers’ or ‘Only men are perpetrators,’ which we know isn’t true, then we’re not talking to kids about the fact that it could be your best friend’s mom, it could be your coach, it could be a teacher, it could be your cousin. I think adults can educate themselves better about where the real risks are.”
DA’s Office Human Trafficking Investigator Edna Munoz voiced concern for the culture children are exposed to online. Munoz said the office has seen offenders reaching out to children offering vape pens and drugs in exchange for sexual acts.
“I feel like the social media culture has normalized behaviors that put children at risk and make them more willing to talk to people online, share explicit images or try drugs,” Munoz said. “When we don’t talk to our children about the dangers of this, it is easy for the perpetrators to try and groom children into thinking this is normal and acceptable when it’s not.”
In November, two men were arrested in Longmont on suspicion of providing drugs and vapes to minors in exchange for sexual acts. Both defendants have their preliminary hearings on May 6.
Munoz said when it comes to children interacting with perpetrators online, it’s no longer a question of if, but when.
Anyone who wants to report child abuse in Boulder County is urged to call the Department of Housing and Human Services at 303-441-1309. Anyone outside Boulder County can call 844-CO-4-Kids. Any reports of human trafficking can be directed to the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-888-373-7888. In the case of an emergency, call 911.
Blue Sky Bridge can be contacted for questions at 303-444-1388.
