I completely agree with Ciara on the outside system that needs to be in place. As you said, they are children. They don't know. Even as adults, we don't know. It's a complicated system when we get into sports. Make no mistake: 30 complaints, that's not a lot. I did more than 10 in two years. I was in that system for 12 years. Multiply that by 12. I'm one person. Imagine all of those athletes who have done the same. Thirty may look like a lot but it's kind of the norm, and nothing is done year after year. As Ciara said, she is still going through it. It has been two years. I'm still going through it. I pay for my own therapy. I pay for my own medication. There's no support for that. It's thousands of dollars.
I am a teacher. I am passionate about kids and helping them and giving them hope. It's getting hard to give them hope when I see no change happening. Right now, I don't know what to say to a kid who is abused, and I'm a teacher. I feel guilty for that. I don't know what to say to kids who have been abused because I have been abused and I didn't have any resources that were efficient. What am I supposed to say to a kid who comes to me and tells me all those things? Because I know the system is not working, am I supposed to say to him the same thing that happened to me...go complain to that system? I know it won't work. I can just stay there and look at this failing over and over again. This is part of me. It's hard.
I don't know what to do. I want to do more. I want to be involved, but for your question of what needs to be a perfect system for a kid who is going through abuse, for now the answer is that I don't know.