A proactive approach to

combating abuse

In our world today, we are faced with appalling statistics of abuse of both adults and children. For example, 1 in 10 children will be molested before their 18th birthday; around 400,000 babies born in the US this year will become victims of sexual abuse; and 1 in 3 women and 1 in 4 men have experienced some form of physical violence by an intimate partner. We believe there is a better way. We don’t need to hide our heads in the sand and stand by helplessly while children and adults suffer abuse.

A Better Way is a Christian organization that equips caring people to prevent, recognize, and respond correctly to abuse. This includes:

  • Collaboration with professionals in a variety of disciplines ranging from law enforcement, social workers, pastors, counselors and others, to provide best practice teaching and guidance
  • Organizing seminars for your church, business, school or other organization to train individuals on a variety of topics pertaining to child safety and/or healing from abuse
  • Providing support through the abuse reporting process
  • Connecting survivors to resources, supports, and services, by networking with advocates and other professionals 
  • Offering in-person support to victims in courtrooms during the legal process
  • Answering the needs of parents, churches and organizations for quality resources and information on preventing and responding to abuse
  • Reviewing current resources for best practice information and accuracy
  • Educating and empowering church leaders to know how to effectively support repentant offenders to turn themselves in to law enforcement
  • Education for law enforcement, the justice system, children’s protective services, and others to understand cultural challenges when working with Amish, Mennonite and other Anabaptist communities

#invisible — Sign the Petition

As a young Amish woman, Misty Griffin witnessed abuse first hand.

“I knew parents, teachers, and church leadership who knew about the abuse and did nothing. The strongest punishment anyone ever received was 6 weeks of shunning for raping, molesting, and severely physically abusing entire families of children. The children in my community had no one, literally no one.”

You may have read Misty’s story, Tears of the Silenced. Now, she is circulating a petition to require all teachers to have training in mandatory reporting, and for all schools to provide training for children to prevent sexual assault.

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Latest News

  • Support Child Abuse Survivors in Court
    Victims of abuse in a plain community have asked us to provide support at a trial in the far North of Canada. Because of the distance involved, and because of the expected length of the trial due to the many victims and the serious charges, advocates need help with the funding to be able to provide support.
  • Changes Coming to A Better Way
    After five years in existence, A Better Way is becoming a non-profit organization! Soon, your gifts will be tax-deductible. We are now incorporated in the State of Ohio as A Better Way: Education and Support, and are preparing to file with the IRS for tax-exempt status. As you may imagine, the costs associated with this…
  • Why Do We Need the Clothing Project?
    The purpose of the Clothing Project is not to discourage modesty or to belittle those who choose to dress conservatively. The Clothing Project graphically and viscerally demonstrates that modesty does not protect people from sexual assault.
  • “What Were You Wearing” Clothing Project Photos
    At the Child Abuse Prevention Seminar in April, we were excited to reveal a project that had been in process for months: the “What Were You Wearing?” clothing project. As far as we know, it is the first such project to exclusively feature clothing from those who were part of a plain-dressing community at the time of their assault.
  • Nuance Matters for Best Practice!
    Let’s do our children a real favor, and be accurate in our teaching–not take an “easy shortcut” that leads to long-term harm.

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How Can You Help?

Would you like to help provide quality education and training for abuse prevention? Your tax-deductible gift to A Better Way will do just that. Please consider partnering with us with either a one-time gift or as a monthly donor. Together, we can continue pushing back the darkness of abuse and bringing the light of hope and healing.