Biden Foundation focuses on education to prevent abuse

The late Delaware Attorney General Joseph “Beau” Biden III was an advocate of preventing child abuse, through his establishing an internet predator unit, to his helping to secure a life sentence for Earl Bradley, the worst pedophile in the state’s history.

Since Biden's death in May, the Beau Biden Foundation for the Protection of Children has continued that work. The foundation will host two free trainings of the Stewards of Children child abuse prevention program, 6 p.m., Wednesday, April 27, at Delaware Tech’s Owens campus in Georgetown, and 6 p.m., Thursday, April 28, at Del Tech’s Terry campus in Dover.

The trainings support the foundation’s mission to prevent child abuse through educating adults and children, developing the next generation of child welfare professionals and strengthening child-protection laws around the country.

Leading the training will be Patricia Dailey Lewis, who ran the Lewes center Biden’s Department of Justice set up in 2009 to counsel Bradley’s victims.

Dailey Lewis said Biden, who visited the Lewes center frequently when it was open, was persuaded education was the key to stopping child abuse. She said it was encountering a woman who asked him what he was going to do about the problems that stemmed from the Bradley case that Dailey Lewis said Biden was convinced better education and reporting requirements were the answer, and not just educating childcare providers  but also mothers and grandmothers to recognize the signs of child abuse.

“We need to shine a light on it and talk about it,” Dailey Lewis said of child abuse. “It’s been allowed to flourish in a culture of silence.”

In 2011, the state began collaborating with Darkness to Light, a national organization dedicated to ending child abuse, and the organization’s Stewards of Children program, which uses real stories to show how to recognize the signs of child abuse.

Biden’s goal was to have 5 percent of Delaware’s population – 35,000 people – take the program. Dailey Lewis said 5 percent would be enough to cause a cultural shift, similar to cultural perception changes, as has occured for seat belts, child car seats and cigarettes.

“If we train people, people will learn about the issue and take steps to protect themselves,” Dailey Lewis said.

So far, 18,000 people have been trained in the program, she said.

“Beau ran on protecting kids,” Dailey Lewis said.

She said the hope is that the success in Delaware has a ripple effect, with other states also implementing the Stewards of Children program.