Spilled Milk

by K.L. Randis

“Please do not ever, EVER, tell a child that what they tell you will be in confidence if it is not. Don’t lie to us. If it is confidential, do not send a letter home to that child’s parents telling them what they told you. Do you have any idea how dangerous it was for me when my dad opened up a letter from Social Services saying that I had talked to them?”

Let us know right away that it’s okay to say the names of body parts. Lie to us, please, and tell us you’ve heard this before. If it’s a girl victim, get a girl cop. If there isn’t one available, tell them that you have talked to lots of little girls about bad things that have happened to them. We need to know our bodies are safe to talk about to a male in a police uniform.

But at the end of the day, the only person I can make changes to is myself.