Jennifer Alvaro has never met anyone who's had to escape a burning school building.
But as a parent, she's grateful students are taught about fire safety and how to react in the event of a fire.
She does, however, know thousands of people who have either been sexually abused or have friends or family members who've been victims. There's not a doubt in her mind it's "the largest public health problem facing our children."
"The fact that sexual abuse is such a more prevalent problem than any of the other things we educate kids on, that needs to be corrected and there's a safe way to do it," she said.
Based in Montgomery County, Alvaro is a licensed clinical social worker in Maryland and Virginia as well as a certified sex offender treatment provider in Virginia. She began her career in 1994 and specializes in the field of child sexual abuse.
Most recently, Alvaro has been a facilitator for Darkness to Light's Stewards of Children program which teaches adults about preventing, recognizing and reacting to child sexual abuse.
A 2004 report prepared for the U.S. Department of Education states that the most accurate data available indicates "nearly 9.6 percent of students are targets of educator sexual misconduct sometime during their school career."..
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