if you want to actually materially address child abuse, the single most important thing you can do to start is give children the legally enforceable right to leave any situation they no longer want to be in.
church, extracurriculars, summer camps, school classes, their biological family’s houses. notably, these are the places that child abuse is enabled by the child’s inability to just fucking leave if they need to. they can’t walk out of church if their youth pastor touches them inappropriately; they’ll get punished for leaving. if they walk out of their house because their dad hits them, the cops pick them up and give them right back to their dad.
children need the legal autonomy to leave abusive situations in order to even begin to usefully materially address child abuse.
original post by qweerhet because it’s unrebloggable but very important