The workshops will teach age-appropriate, nonfearful strategies to young attendees and their parents in protecting themselves from financial and sexual predators.
By Melonie Magruder / Special to The Malibu Times
Disturbed by the abundance of recent news about child predators, both sexual and financial, husband and wife team Eric Grodan and Lori Brockman decided to organize a workshop with a view to empowering parents and providing children with skills to protect themselves.
On Saturday, the children’s advocacy group, Safely Ever After, is teaming up with the Grodan Law Group and the Shalom Institute in Malibu to offer the workshop “Family Fun and Safety Day.”
“Knowledge is power,” Brockman said. “I have two young children and every day you read stories that terrify parents. This workshop will create awareness and help parents and kids devise a plan to avoid problems.”
Brockman said a parent’s worst nightmare is seeing a child fall into the hands of a pedophile like that of John Couey, sentenced to death last week for the kidnap, rape and murder of nine-year-old Jessica Lunsford in Florida two years ago.
“Then you have people like this guy [Jack] McClellan running around,” Brockman said. “You can’t be too careful with your children. And you have to prepare for worst-case scenarios.”
Jack McClellan is a self-proclaimed pedophile who was placed under an extensive restraining order by a Los Angeles County judge last week. McClellan, who has no criminal record and has not been accused of any sex offence, is forbidden to come within 10 yards of any child anywhere in the state because of his admitted attraction to young girls, detailed in a self-posted Web site that gives advice on where to best view young children, and includes posted photos he has taken of young girls.
“We want to teach parents how to teach their children preventative measures to protect themselves,” Brockman continued. “As creepy as people like McClellan are, this is not about fear. It’s about empowerment.”
Pattie Fitzgerald, certified by the National Security Alliance/Kid-Safe Network as an educator for child predator safety, will be heading the workshop’s forums on Saturday at the Shalom Institute in Malibu teaching age-appropriate, nonfearful strategies to young attendees.
“I never even thought about child safety till I was a mom and moved my daughter back to a sleepy little town on Long Island to get away from the evils of the big city,” Fitzgerald said. “Next thing I know, the police called to inform me that a Level 3 sex offender had just moved into the neighborhood. I got educated real fast.”
Fitzgerald now lives with her daughter in Santa Monica and is very aware of the McClellan controversy. “The best thing to come out of the McClellan deal is that parents are starting to understand they have to talk to their kids.”
She plans to encourage a great deal of talk at the workshop, with simple rules that empower children to know what boundaries are acceptable for other adults.
“The fact is, 90 percent of sexual abuse comes from someone known to a child,” Fitzgerald said. “The number one rule is ‘You are boss of your body.’ Number two is, ‘It’s OK to say no to a grown-up. Safe grown-ups don’t ask children for help.'”
The workshops are designed not just to protect children against sexual predators, but from financial predators as well.
A big hurdle for children would be inheritance laws. “At all costs, you want to avoid the nightmare of probate by creating a living trust,” Grodan said. “Without it, your children’s assets will be frozen and their advocate will spend thousands of dollars and years to secure what is rightfully theirs.”
Grodan’s workshop will discuss the easy process of devising a living trust that works for an individual’s situation.
Children are also at-risk from financial predators who comb finance and probate records to find who “the next 18-year-old millionaire” will be.
“All probate filings are public record,” Brockman said. “All your information is out there for everyone to see.”
She cited the case of the celebrity Anna Nicole Smith, whose death earlier this year sparked media frenzy over open court filings to determine paternity and custody of her then six-month-old daughter.
Although the day’s workshops cover serious issues, the planners said it is designed to be fun as well as educational. “It’s all outdoors, there are gym classes, a zipline to ride and we provide child care for babies,” Fitzgerald said.
The event is scheduled from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and is free of charge, though reservations are strongly recommended. Babysitting and lunch are provided free of charge, as well. Reservations can be obtained by calling 818.206.2222 or online at www.grodanlaw.com