The world is a nice place in general but it is also filled with a lot of monsters. Some of the worst, most perverted kind of human beings are child sex offenders. They are a major threat for the safety and well being of your children. Thanks to modern technology, we now have tools which can help us track child sex offenders. One of the best tools for that is Family Watchdog. In this post, we will go over Family Watchdog and discuss how you can use it to ensure the safety of your children 

Family Watchdog: How to use it to protect your children

What is Family Watchdog?

It is a free online service that helps you find and identify registered sex offenders living in your community. It’s a valuable resource for families looking to guard their children from registered sex offenders and sexual predators in their neighborhoods.

The world that we live in, is unfortunately filled with threats to your child’s safety. Sexual predators are often lurking almost anywhere. And you would possibly not be ready to distinguish the sheep from the wolves. Thankfully, Family Watchdog provides you with the information that you need to separate the good guys from the bad ones.

The site provides an enquiry tool for mapping out the house addresses of registered sex offenders. A color-coded marker on an interactive Google map represents each individual. It’s also an excellent educational resource, with plenty of statistics and articles on keeping your children safe.

You can even register to receive email notifications so that you can be alerted when registered sex offenders enter your area. Additionally, they supply updates on FDA Alerts, allergy Warnings, Product Recalls and Medicine Recalls.

Megan’s Law – the inspiration behind Family Watchdog

After the heinous rape and murder of seven year old Megan Kanka, Megan’s law came into force in the year 1996. It made it compulsory for every American state to publicly reveal the registration information of every child sex abuse convict.

Family Watchdog is one among several companies which aggregate these records of local sexually listed predators. That has helped create a Megan’s Law Map.

Now, popular crime mapping apps like Spot Crime and Crime Reports have followed suit and are providing convict listings additionally to crimes like burglary, robbery, theft, arson, vandalism etc. 

All of these are wonderful tools for helping families raise their awareness and stay informed about the potential threats and risks within their communities. 

Awareness is Your Best Defense

That is the motto of Family Watchdog, and it’s why they introduced this outstanding free resource in 2005. Since its inception, Family Watchdog was meant to increase awareness and help families safeguard their children from potential threats. While many folks find this kind of  information unsettling, don’t forget – forewarned is forearmed.

Child Sex Abuse is a far worse problem than you might imagine it to be. 1 out of 20 boys and 1 out of 5 girls have been statistically proven to be victims of sexual assault. And the need for vigilance does not decrease with children getting older, since almost 36% of child sex abuse cases involve children who are 12 years or older. You’ll be surprised by the number of registered sex offenders living in your area.

How to Locate Sex Offenders in Your Area

Mapping Locations

The Family Watchdog website is extremely easy to use. On top of the search features, there’s a wealth of data on family safety and related topics in their blog section. In order to get started, you just need to enter the address of a neighborhood you’d wish to research.

You might include your home address, the address of a faculty or daycare or perhaps a lover or relative’s address where your beloved children could be staying. The system generates a map with colour coded pins that will display the last known address of a Registered Sex Offender.

You can click on these markers to generate a mugshot and profile of the offender. It also includes additional information, like aliases, the criminal charges, and other known addresses. There also are paid links to more comprehensive background information on the individual.

Searching by name 

While a lot of people might imagine sex offenders to be monstrous psychopaths who are complete strangers, the reality is far sadder than that. Almost 60% of perpetrators are known to the family. If you’ve got any suspicions, you have the option to search by name and state on Family Watchdog.

Get email notifications when a registered sex offender moves

In addition to the aforementioned features, you also have the option to register to receive an e-mail notification if a registered sex offender moves in or out of your area.

What to do when sex offenders live near you?

Research and Risk Assessment with Family Watchdog

If you’re like most of the people, the amount of registered offenders living in your community would surprise you. Although this is definitely a cause for concern, you should avoid panicking.

Many of those offenders fall into the realm of “Romeo and Juliet” offenders where the male is involved with a minor girl. For instance- an 18 year old college freshman who is dating a 16 year old high school girl. Even if they have consensual sex, it will still qualify as statutory rape. A person like that shouldn’t necessarily be considered a serial sex offender or a lifelong predator.

There are three levels of sex offenders. The first level poses little threat to the community, the second level poses a moderate risk, and the 3rd level indicates that the offender presents a significant threat of repeating criminal behavior. Family Watchdog lists the state registries to help you research the individual even more.

Nevertheless, now that one is conscious of potential threats, it’s prudent to take additional precautionary measures to ensure the security of your children.

Communicate

Now that you have spent enough time to educate yourself on the potential risks, it’s important to start using this information and have a dialogue with your children. Unfortunately, you can’t be with them 24/7 to guard them, but you can give them the necessary guidance for safety.

Avoid scary details. Keep information general. Explain the importance of avoiding dangerous situations, instead of trying to just show them how to be safe from just one specific person you have researched about. Give your children simple advice like:

• Don’t get into cars with strangers. 

• Don’t go into a stranger’s house. 

• Inform your parents if you are offered toys, gifts, candy or money by strangers. 

• Use the buddy system while playing outdoors with friends. 

• Call 911 if a stranger approaches you and your parents are not around.

Family Watchdog – Conclusion 

When it comes to protecting your children from sex offenders, Family Watchdog is a fantastic tool. Family Watchdog will keep you informed about the potential threats in your area and help you with the steps needed to ensure your children’s safety and welfare.