{"id":70670,"date":"2018-05-08T10:57:10","date_gmt":"2018-05-08T15:57:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=70670"},"modified":"2018-05-08T11:37:24","modified_gmt":"2018-05-08T16:37:24","slug":"child-abuse-survivor-recounts-horrifying-rape-experience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/child-abuse-survivor-recounts-horrifying-rape-experience\/","title":{"rendered":"Child abuse survivor recounts horrifying rape experience"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong> Gabrielle Phifer <\/strong><br \/>\n<em>Medill Reports<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"dropcap\">Life after being abused can be one of the toughest moments for any person, especially for a child. Patrick Dati was just 9 years old when he was sexually abused in a bathroom at a Chicago department store.<\/p>\n<p>It was difficult being abused but even more difficult when he found out his abuser was responsible for killing over 30 young boys. The shame and guilt followed him for years and there was no one that knew him that saw the signs.<\/p>\n<p>[vimeo 267908735 w=640 h=360]<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>According to Children&#8217;s Adovacy Center, 37% of children are abused between the ages of 7 and 12. Abuse isn&#8217;t always easy to notice. It&#8217;s not always easy to prevent, but parents can play a huge part in the process after abuse. Recognizing the signs and having an open dialogue with the child about speaking up and how to protect themselves are two important ways to help prevent the child from experiencing further problems.<\/p>\n<p>Dati has turned his abuse into advocacy but there are many children who are still suffering. If you think your child might have been abused, there are many resources to help your child heal. Visit the Illinois Children&#8217;s Advocacy Center website https:\/\/www.chicagocac.org\/ to learn more information.<\/p>\n<p>Photo at top:\u00a0Abuse survivor Patrick Dati discusses his book, <em>I Am Me<\/em>. (Gabrielle Phifer\/MEDILL)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Gabrielle Phifer Medill Reports Life after being abused can be one of the toughest moments for any person, especially for a child. Patrick Dati was just 9 years old when he was sexually abused in a bathroom at a Chicago department store. It was difficult being abused but even more difficult when he found out [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":88,"featured_media":70663,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4227],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-70670","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-spring-2018"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Child abuse survivor recounts horrifying rape experience - Medill Reports Chicago<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/child-abuse-survivor-recounts-horrifying-rape-experience\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Child abuse survivor recounts horrifying rape experience - Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Gabrielle Phifer Medill Reports Life after being abused can be one of the toughest moments for any person, especially for a child. Patrick Dati was just 9 years old when he was sexually abused in a bathroom at a Chicago department store. 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