The Family Room (The Quest)

Anna is a clinical social worker in practice since 2006 in the Atlanta area.

She has worked in several different settings including residential mental health, private practice, and substance abuse work. In particular, her clinical experience as a cognitive behavioral therapist with convicted sexual offenders propelled her to pen her debut book, Duck Duck Groom: Understanding How a Child Becomes a Target.

As a clinician, Anna saw firsthand, not only why but more importantly, how families and children are groomed. Grooming, the obligatory process of building trust to earn access to a potential victim, is intentional, gradual, and observable. This revelation was only fully understood after Anna had a family of her own.

As the mother to five children, Anna witnessed her own children in setting after setting where she had to evaluate the potential risks of adults and minors. Her book, Duck Duck Groom, is the manual for parents of young children who want to learn how to protect them from a potential groomer.

Anna Sonoda now provides consultation for individuals, communities, and agencies exploring how to handle grooming proactively in order to interrupt the process and protect our most vulnerable, our children.

Favorite Prayer: St Patrick’s Breastplate (Abbreviated Extracts)

Resources

• Find additional resources here, including signs of abuse www.duckduckgroom.com

Questions for Caregivers

In addition to completing a background check, reference checks and follow through, and basic information, such as address, school, phone number, social security number, and date of birth, use the questions below to get you started in your in-person interview of the candidate. You may not need all questions, but directly addressing these topics will strengthen your decision when hiring caregivers.

• What draws you to work with children?
• What are your strengths in working with children?
• What are your biggest challenges when working with children?
• What situations are most difficult?
• How do you discipline a misbehaving child?
• How do you handle your device when in the presence of children?
• Photo or video taking and sharing?
• Are children permitted to use or watch along with you on your device?
• How would you handle a child who shares they are being abused by a family member or friend?
• How do you handle private spaces for bathing or toileting?
• What is your expectation when washing, dressing, or toileting my child?
• How would you handle a child who is touching themselves on their genitals in your presence?
• What are your thoughts about having guests over while you’re babysitting? Share with me a circumstance where you’ve had to withhold information from a child’s parent?
• Tell me about any circumstance where you had a secret with a child you cared for?
• Please describe a time when babysitting did not go well. Why?
• Looking back, what could you have done to improve the outcome?

Source: Duck Duck Groom: Understanding How a Child Becomes a Target