The abuse described in the Epstein files is horrific. Sexual exploitation and abuse of children and teenagers is always devastating — for the victims, survivors, families, and entire communities.
What compounds the harm — and extends it across years and generations — is the silence, complicity, and protection that powerful individuals and institutions provide to perpetrators and systems, allowing abuse to continue without accountability.
This thread, that we have seen in childhood sexual abuse scandal after scandal around the world, forms a familiar pattern – in families, sports teams, faith institutions, schools, media, medical settings, online platforms, and homes. And now, on islands owned by billionaires.
The setting may change. The names may change. The pattern does not.
I am a psychologist, a CEO, a mother, and a survivor of childhood sexual abuse. For more than 25 years, I have worked to prevent and respond to sexual violence against children and adolescents. I have studied these issues. I have led on these issues. I have lived them.
These cases are not rare. They are hidden.
And too often, perpetrators are not the only ones who hurt children. The systems designed to protect them — and the adults who surround them — also hurt them.
When systems fail and adults look away, children pay the price.
Impunity fuels abuse
When allegations are dismissed, minimized, or buried, abuse continues. When institutions prioritize reputation over children, harm multiplies. When powerful individuals are shielded from scrutiny, others learn they can act without consequence.
To have real justice and healing, and to prevent this from continuing, allegations must be taken seriously. It means listening to survivors and conducting independent investigations. It means ensuring consequences not only for perpetrators, but for those who enabled, protected, or ignored abuse.
It means protecting the dignity, privacy, and safety of victims and survivors at every step. It means ensuring that the justice system that is meant to protect them does not retraumatize them.
It means ending time limits on prosecuting child abusers. Abolishing statutes of limitation so victims and survivors can come forward when they are ready — not when an arbitrary legal deadline expires. Delayed disclosure is common in cases of child sexual abuse and exploitation. Trauma, fear, and power imbalances often silence children for years. Our laws must reflect that reality. Justice delayed should not mean justice denied.
Across decades of public scandals in Olympic programs, universities, churches, youth organizations, and beyond, the same thread runs through them all. Perpetrators acted. Systems failed. Adults looked away. More children pay the price.
Prevention, healing, and justice are possible
This is all preventable.
Research and national data show that when countries implement evidence-based prevention strategies, strengthen child protection systems, and invest in survivor-centered services and justice systems, rates of sexual violence against children decrease.
Prevention means teaching young people about healthy relationships and consent, challenging harmful gender norms, strengthening safeguarding across institutions, designing safer digital spaces, and ensuring reporting systems are safe, accessible, and responsive.
Healing includes trauma-informed care, mental health services, and survivor-centered legal support.
Justice includes prosecuting perpetrators, criminalizing various forms of sexual violence, holding enablers accountable, and abolishing statutes of limitation on abuse cases so survivors can seek justice when they are ready.
The solutions exist – most of which are on the Safe Futures Hub. What is missing is the courage to actually act on them.
Silence protects predators
Sexual violence against children thrives in secrecy. It thrives when bystanders convince themselves it is not their place to intervene. It thrives when communities don’t question those who are admired, respected, or powerful.
Silence is not neutral. Silence protects predators. It does not protect children.
Calling out someone with influence requires courage. Questioning a coach, religious leader, doctor, neighbor, or family member requires courage.
But courage is what keeps children safe.
Survivors have been brave. Now the rest of us must be.
Survivors have taken an enormous risk by speaking out. But bravery should not rest solely on their shoulders.
Survivor-led movements around the world are creating transparency, reform, and justice. This includes the Brave Movement, which I founded with 14 other survivor leaders to confront these failures.
But being brave so children can be safe is not just a slogan of the movement. It is a shared responsibility.
It means all of us taking victims and survivors seriously when they come forward.
It means all of us asking hard questions.
It means all of us refusing to protect institutions and power at the expense of children.
It means all of us demanding accountability — even when it’s uncomfortable.
It means all of us stepping forward instead of looking away.
This moment is not only about one case. It is about whether we will finally disrupt a pattern that has repeated across generations.
Together, we can end this pattern — and build a world where children and teenagers are believed, protected, and safe.