“The serial killer has the same personality characteristics as the sex offender against children.” (Dr. Mace Knapp, Nevada State Prison Psychologist). “There are 400,000 registered sex offenders in the United States, and an estimated 80 to 100,000 of them are missing. They’re supposed to be registered, but we don’t know where they are and we don’t know where they’re living.

The National Children’s Advocacy Center is located in Huntsville, Alabama, and has revolutionized our nation’s response to child sexual abuse since its creation under the leadership of Bud Cramer. The work of the NCAC serves as a beacon of hope for more than 250,000 child abuse victims every year. The NCAC is based in Huntsville, Alabama. Each year, thousands of people from the United States and around the world are trained on how to recognize and support endangered children. More than 54,000 child abuse professionals from all 50 states and 20 countries have been trained by the NCAC.

QUINCY — A 57-year-old Quincy man is accused of committing over two dozen counts of child rape. Police tell FOX25, Michael R. Brundige turned himself into police on Thursday night after being informed of plans to charge him with 16 new counts of rape of a child with force.

As Syracuse University became the third U.S. college whose workers have faced high-profile allegations of child sex abuse this month, child welfare advocates say the accounts may be triggering a surge in reports of juvenile sex abuse. The Syracuse allegations are the latest of three child sex abuse cases at U.S. colleges that have gained national attention this month. Syracuse put longtime associate men’s basketball coach Bernie Fine on leave Thursday after two former ball boys, now in their 30s and 40s, told ESPN that Fine molested them years ago. Fine, who has not been charged, denies the allegations.

San Antonio, TX- – Cynthia Stewart, a 43-year-old guidance counselor at Olympia Elementary School has been jailed after she allegedly engaged in repeated sexting with a 15-year-old student. According to police, an investigation was launched after a 15-year-old boy’s parents checked their son’s phone and found that he and the counselor repeatedly engaged in sexual conversations and exchanged nude images.

Oregon—- A Salem man has been arrested after police allege he exposed himself to children in two separate drive-bys on November 4th and November 8th. Jeremiah Tyler Auvil, 19, is being charged with public indecency and “using a child in the display of sexually explicit conduct.”

STOCKTON – A Lincoln Unified School District teacher has been placed on paid leave amid allegations she was operating pornographic websites on a school computer with a Stockton police officer as her partner. District officials confiscated the school-issued Apple laptop of Heidi Kaeslin, a special-education teacher at Lincoln High, about one month ago. Kaeslin, 35, has been replaced by a long-term substitute teacher.

EL PASO COUNTY, Colo. — Four people have been arrested in connection to a child sex assault case.

In December of 2010, the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office received a report of a possible sexual assault on a child involving a teacher at the Hilltop Baptist School. Investigation revealed a 15-year-old male victim was sexually assaulted multiple times by a teacher during 2007.

VIRGINIA BEACH, VA — A once trusted police officer is in jail. Steven McGee is charged with sex crimes against a child. Investigators say the former Poquoson police officer raped an underage girl several times. Police arrested him Thursday morning. Experts say a lot of times abused children just don’t know how to come out and tell someone.

Wentworth, NC– A convicted sex offender is going back to prison for using social media. In North Carolina registered sex offenders are not allow to use any form of social media. However, investigators said that didn’t stop a Rockingham County man. Victor Gaston, 36, of Reidsville, was charged last summer with violating the social media rules. Gaston, according to deputies, tried to “friend” his former victim on her facebook page.

RESCOTT – Ricardo Costa, held in the Yavapai County Jail for most of the last three years on a record-breaking high bond of $75 million dollars, accepted a plea agreement and will serve only: lifetime probation. Costa, 39, was charged with two counts of continuous sexual abuse of a child. He originally faced a dozen counts of sexual misconduct and was not eligible for bond. Last year, those charges were thrown out and Yavapai County Superior Court Judge Tina Ainley set his bond at $75 million, cash only.

A convicted murderer who brutally stabbed a nine-year-old boy in a public restroom in 1998 has killed himself in his death row cell. Brandon Wilson, 33, a drifter from Wisconsin, Ohio, was found hanging inside in his cell in San Quentin State Prison, California on Thursday.

DAYTON, Ohio — A 42-year old woman has been charged with involuntary manslaughter in the death of her 14-year-old daughter, who weighed 28 pounds when she died. The county coroner ruled that Makayla Norman died of nutritional and medical neglect complicated by cerebral palsy. “She was the worst malnourished child this office has ever seen,” Ken Betz, director of the coroner’s office, said Thursday.

If you have a young son or daughter, or a young niece or nephew, or another young person you care about regardless of relation, the past week led to some reflection. Is there anybody who might be abusing them? Would they tell someone if it’s happening? What can be done to prevent the former and ensure the latter?