HomeCHILD SAFETYBody Safety

Silence Is Not Safety: When Keeping Secrets Protects Abusers, Not Children

There’s a lie that too many children have been taught: “If you love us, you’ll keep the secret.”It’s whispered in families, faith groups, schools

Stop Conditioning Kids for Compliance
How to Stop Adults from Gaslighting Kids About Abuse
Why Forcing Children to Lie About Identity is Harmful

Artistic black and white photo of a doll in a window frame, Lençóis, Brazil.There’s a lie that too many children have been taught:
“If you love us, you’ll keep the secret.”

It’s whispered in families, faith groups, schools, cults, ideologies, fan groups, and even some nonprofits that claim to serve children.
It sounds like loyalty. It sounds like love. It sounds like protection.

But it is not safety. It is not healing.
It is a silence that protects abusers and punishes Survivors.

🤐 What Silence Sounds Like to a Child

  • “We don’t talk about that.”

  • “Don’t say that again.”

  • “You’ll ruin the family’s reputation.”

  • “If anyone finds out, they’ll think we’re bad people.”

  • “Just forgive and forget. That’s what good people do.”

  • “You misunderstood. He didn’t mean it like that.”

  • “That happened a long time ago. Move on.”

Every time a child hears this, what they’re really being told is:


“Your pain is a threat to our peace.”
“We’ll keep the image. You carry the wound.”

🧱 The Walls That Silence Builds

When a child is told to stay quiet:

  • They learn not to trust their own instincts.

  • They carry shame that doesn’t belong to them.

  • They internalize that telling the truth makes them “bad.”

  • They live with fear—and often, the abuse continues.

And here’s the deeper truth:
Silence doesn’t just protect one abuser.
It protects the next one, too.
Because no one learns. No one listens. No one changes.

🏫 Institutions That Don’t Listen Promote Silence

Let’s be honest:

📌 Every school, program, religious group, camp, or organization that works with children—
and does not have a clear, safe, and confidential way for children to report abuse—
is not protecting children.

They are promoting silence.

And silence is where abuse survives.
Silence is where predators thrive.
Silence is where generations of harm grow unchecked.

💬 What We Must Tell Our Children

  • “You are allowed to speak up—even if the truth is uncomfortable.”

  • “Secrets that hurt you are not yours to keep.”

  • “Telling is not betrayal. Telling is brave.”

  • “Loyalty to people who hurt you is not love—it’s pressure.”

  • “Real safety never asks you to lie.”

🌹 What We Must Tell Ourselves

We are not here to keep things quiet.
We are not here to “protect reputations.”
We are here to protect children. To protect truth.
To protect the one voice that had the courage to speak—when no one else would.

At RosasChildren.com, we believe silence is not sacred when it shelters harm.
We are committed to building a world where every child knows:

🗣️ Their voice is welcome.
Their story matters.
And their safety will never be treated as a secret.

COMMENTS

WORDPRESS: 0
    DISQUS: