To Every Survivor of Child Sexual Abuse: This Was Never Your Fault. Too many child Survivors have grown up carrying a question that should have never
To Every Survivor of Child Sexual Abuse: This Was Never Your Fault.
Too many child Survivors have grown up carrying a question that should have never been theirs to hold:
“Was it my fault?”
They ask it quietly.
Or they bury it beneath their silence.
Or they ask it only after someone else plants the seed by saying something they never should have said:
“I forgive you.”
“Why are you telling us now?”
“Why didn’t you say something sooner?”
“Are you sure it really happened like that?”
“Don’t you know what this could do to their family?”
But here’s the truth—and we say it without shame, without hesitation, and without apology:
You were a child. What happened to you was not your fault.
You didn’t deserve that. You deserved safety. You deserved protection.
We’re sorry the adults failed you.
You are not to blame.
You are not alone.
This is what should have been said.
Not forgiveness for a child who did nothing wrong.
Not questions that blame the victim for the crimes of an adult.
Not silence that shields the one who harmed.
The crime is not in telling.
The wrong is not in speaking up.
The harm is not in being brave enough to say, “This happened to me.”
The harm was done by the person who violated that child.
And by every system, institution, or person that protected the abuser instead of the child.
At RosasChildren, we name what others whisper around.
We say what too many were too afraid—or too complicit—to say:
Children are never responsible for being targeted by adults.
Children are not capable of “affairs” with grown people.
Children do not seduce adults.
Children are not responsible for keeping families, churches, or communities together by staying silent.
Children are not “forgiven” for being victims—they are believed, protected, and loved.
To Survivors who were blamed, shamed, or silenced:
We know that what you needed was safety—not secrecy.
Support—not suspicion.
Truth—not twisted forgiveness.
We believe you.
We honor your voice.
And we will never ask you to apologize for surviving.