FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 26, 2025
Maryland Entrepreneur and Advocate Meets with Congressional Leaders in Washington to Advance BLOOM SAFE: MAKE AMERICA THE SAFEST PLACE TO BE A KID ACT
Washington, D.C. – Steve Simons, Maryland-based tech entrepreneur and author of the BLOOM SAFE: Make America the Safest Place to Be a Kid Act, traveled to the nation’s capital last week to generate Congressional support for the Bloom Safe: Make America The Safest Place To Be A Kid Act and to address the ongoing child sexual abuse epidemic in the United States.
Simons was joined by Adrianne Simeone, Executive Director and Founder of The Mama Bear Effect, a nonprofit organization dedicated to raising awareness and educating the public to prevent child sexual abuse. Together, they met with U.S. Congressman Vern Buchanan (R-FL), Vice Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee and Chair of the Health Subcommittee.
Congressman Buchanan has established a strong legislative record advocating for policies to combat child sex abuse, human trafficking, and exploitation across the country. These issues carry personal significance to him due to harrowing accounts from constituents, combined with the alarming rate of trafficking reports involving children in Florida, which is among the highest in the nation.
Simons founded Bloom Safe, a national initiative dedicated to ending child sexual abuse through a unified, evidence-based strategy. Created by survivors, BLOOM SAFE: MAKE AMERICA THE SAFEST PLACE TO BE A KID brings together public, private, and faith-based organizations in a proposed $1 billion public-private partnership to better protect children nationwide.
“BLOOM SAFE: MAKE AMERICA THE SAFEST PLACE TO BE A KID ACT is about creating the safest environment in the world for our children,” said Simons. “By uniting federal leadership with community partnerships, we can finally deliver the protection children deserve.” – Steve Simons, Bloom Safe: Make America The Safest Place To Be A Kid
“The immense potential to strengthen our nation by protecting children from the trauma of sexual abuse and exploitation is worth the time and attention of every policymaker, public servant, and community leader committed to building a safer future.” – Adrianne Simeone, The Mama Bear Effect
Pictured L-R Adrianne Simeone, Steve Simons, Congressman Vern Buchanan Meet in Washington, DC. (source Congressman Buchanan via Linkedin)
About Bloom Safe
Bloom Safe: Make America The Safest Place To Be A Kid is a national initiative founded by survivors of child sexual abuse. Its mission is to unite public, private, community, and faith-based leaders to end child sexual abuse through education, training, awareness, and survivor support, with evidence based, peer reviewed science as its foundation.
The Bloom Safe: Make America The Safest Place To Be A Kid Act Has Five Core Objectives called “The Five Pillars”:
1. Education and Prevention: Building on the success of “Erin’s Law” at the state level, the Act implements evidence-based, age-appropriate PreK–12 child sexual abuse prevention curricula nationwide.
2. Adult Training: The Act requires "Bloom Safe" certification and training for ALL adults who care for and work with children – teachers, coaches, faith leaders, healthcare workers, foster/adoptive parents, law enforcement, etc. – equipping them to identify, prevent, and respond to child sexual abuse appropriately, starting with all mandated reporters.
3. Public Awareness: The Act launches a sustained national campaign to break the silence and destigmatize conversations about child sexual abuse, similar to what “Just Say No” and the D.A.R.E. program did for drug abuse prevention.
4. Survivor Support: The Act expands services to ensure all survivors have immediate and sustained access to support.
5. Research and Data: The Act establishes a National Child Sexual Abuse Research Hub for ongoing data collection, monitoring, evaluation, and reporting, ensuring evidence-based peer reviewed science is the foundation for ongoing improvements in policy and practice.
Four Fast Facts on Child Sex Abuse (CSA)
Prevalence: 1 in 4 girls and 1 in 13 boys experience abuse before the age of 18, yet most do not disclose it during childhood.
Perpetrator Familiarity: 93% of CSA perpetrators are known and trusted by the child, highlighting the importance of awareness and prevention.
Economic Impact: CSA costs the United States approximately $9.3 billion annually in healthcare, lost productivity, and justice system expenses.
Effectiveness of Prevention: States that implement K-12 body-safety laws report a 22% increase in early abuse reports from schools, enabling quicker intervention and support.
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control. (2019). Report to Congress on Child Sexual Abuse Prevention. Finkelhor, D., Shattuck, A., Turner, H. A., & Hamby, S. L. (2014). The lifetime prevalence of child sexual abuse and sexual assault assessed in late adolescence. Journal of Adolescent Health, 55(3), 329-333.
- Snyder, H. N. (2000). Sexual assault of young children as reported to law enforcement: Victim, incident, and offender characteristics (NCJ 182990). Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics.
- Letourneau, E. J., Brown, D. S., Fang, X., Hassan, A., & Mercy, J. A. (2018). The economic burden of child sexual abuse in the United States. Child Abuse & Neglect, 79, 413–422
- Bright, M. A., Roehrkasse, A. F., Masten, S., Nauman, A., & Finkelhor, D. (2022). Child abuse prevention education policies increase reports of child sexual abuse. Child Abuse & Neglect, 134, 105932.
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Media Contact
Chris Forhan
Media Contact
media@bloomsafe.org
443-801-7211
About The Mama Bear Effect
The Mama Bear Effect® is a nonprofit organization dedicated to raising awareness and educating the public to prevent child sexual abuse. It was established in 2013 in response to the perceived need for down-to-earth awareness and prevention education that was not only accessible but inspiring. Child sexual abuse is not necessarily an epidemic because abusers are so effective at perpetrating, but because the taboo, and consequent discomfort and fear, hold protective adults back from being aware, effectively empowering children, and responding appropriately.
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Media Contact
Adrianne
Simeone
President
adrianne@themamabeareffect.org