From left, Stacey Moore and Danielle Stroub, employees of Change Inc’s Comfort House Child Advocacy Center, shows off their ROARs during a body safety presentation Thursday morning at Chester Municipal Building. The women were on hand to share the story of the fictitious Rex the lion. (Photo by Stephanie Ujhelyi)

CHESTER — The ability for children to relay sexual abuse to authorities can be a hurdle to investigations. So members of Change Inc. were on hand to bridge that gap.

During a presentation Thursday morning in Chester City Hall, Danielle Stroub, project manager, and Stacey Moore, outreach coordinator, shared the story of Rex the Lion with attendees as part of the body safety conversation.

Did you know that one of three girls and one of five boys will experience abuse before their 18th birthday?

Did you know that 97 percent of incidents are not unfamiliar people to their victims?

The “Stand up and ROAR” curriculum helps improve the odds to get those children help especially as the majority of incidents are not reported in the first place. Stroub, with assistance from Moore, detailed “Rex Finds His Roar,” hoping it would inspire young attendees to be brave if ever confronted with either this themselves or knowledge that other children are victims.

ROAR is an acronym for:

— Remember, privates are private.

— Okay to say no.

— Always talk about secrets.

— Raise your voice and tell someone.

Children were encouraged to talk about things that upset them — especially to three safe adults they can share this with whether it’s family members like parents, grandparents, aunts or uncles, school officials, doctors or first responders.

The importance of having “safe grownups” outside the home was stressed even to parents.

Comfort House employees talked about their roles as “safe grownups,” which is their primary roles.

“We want to teach you how to ROAR,” Stroub added.

Change Inc., which runs the Comfort House Child Advocacy Center in Weirton, is the West Virginia equivalent of the Community Action Agency in Columbiana County. Among its services at Comfort House, the agency provides forensic interviews or structured conversations to elicit detailed information about possible events within a kid friendly environment as well as provides community prevention programs like ROAR.

One of the most important points that Stroub relayed to adults is to always use real names for body parts, as nicknames cannot only increase shame but make it harder for safe adults to interpret the child’s comment.

Each child left with a ROAR badge similar to what Rex earned for his bravery and coloring sheets, while their adult received a folder of parental educational information about keeping their kids safe. In addition to body safety information, the folder also included online safety tips and grooming red flags.

It is never too early to begin conversations about body safety, the presentation concluded.

For more information about the Change Inc. Comfort House in Weirton, either visit their website at changeinc.org or call 304-723-0083.