INTEGRATING CHILD

SEXUAL ABUSE PREVENTION INTO YOUR COMMUNITY

Nancy Corley, MA, LPC

Marissa Gunther, MSW, LMSW

What do you want to get out of this training?

What would make this time productive for you?

Training Outline

Effective Prevention: Public Health Model Let’s Make this Practical: Target Areas for

Action Research Public Awareness and Education Policies and Organizational Practice Collaborative Practice

Breaking it down: What does this mean for me? Individual Action Community Action Policy-Level Action

Why is prevention important?

Public Health Model

Tiers of Prevention: Primary Secondary Tertiary Sexual abuse results as a combination of individual, relationship, community and societal factors, all need to be addressed to effectively prevent it.

What would it mean to prevent child sexual abuse? Fewer victims Children are free to live without sexual trauma Decrease the risk of future perpetration Reduction in health care and mental health care costs Increase engagement of bystanders Promote healthy social norms Promote healthy development and safe, stable

relationships for children

Let’s Make this Practical

Action Areas:ResearchPublic Awareness and EducationPolicies and Organizational PracticeCollaborative Practice

As suggested by the National Plan to Prevent the Sexual Abuse and Exploitation of Children

Research

Promote the use of research to guide sexual abuse prevention practice.

Find and use the most up-to-date research and trends to help understand:

Risk and protective factorsHelp for victimsHelp for perpetratorsEffective prevention, response and

treatment modelsWhat the issue looks like in your

community

Research

Resources: Centers for Disease Control and PreventionNational Sexual Violence Resource CenterNational Child Traumatic Stress NetworkChild Welfare Information Gateway

Advocate for further research to advance understanding of child sexual abuse.

Use research to develop effective prevention tools and share those tools.

Public Awareness and Education Public awareness alone does not prevent

child sexual abuse, but can lay a foundation for change.

Education can address knowledge, skills and behavior change.

Sample Campaigns:

Community Implementation: What exactly is my goal? Community Outreach

Know your facts about child sexual abuse Missouri Kids Count

Know your community Who does what? Has that changed recently? Who do I (& Board, Boss, Co-workers, etc.) know?

Consider your target audience Who do I need to spread the message to? Why is that person(s) important?

Public Awareness and Education

Public Awareness and Education

Activity: MAKE A LIST! Name of Organization, Agency, Business,

Professional Club, Key Stakeholder Contact Person Telephone number Email address Physical address Why them? (Again, what’s my goal?)

Policies and Organizational Practices

Promote prevention programs that are evidence-based and can be molded to meet the needs of communities and organizations. Example: Darkness to Light’s “Stewards

of Children”

Choose and support policies that prevent child sexual abuse in your organization. Resource: Center for Disease Control

and Prevention’s Preventing Child Sexual Abuse within Youth-Serving Organizations: Getting Started on Policies and Procedures

Policies and Organizational Practices

Maintain a balance between keeping children safe with the need to nature and care for them.

Share information about successful policies and procedures with other organizations in your community.

Policies and Organizational Practices

Sample policies: Create policies that address or eliminate

one adult-one child situations. What does this look like in your organization?

Insist on staff and volunteer screenings that include: Criminal background checks Personal Interviews Professional reference checks Complete screenings periodically

Policies and Organizational Practices

Sample policies: Monitor behavior between all adults and

children, including older youth who may have the responsibility to care for children.

Create a response system to inappropriate behavior, suspicions and breaches in policy. Enforce it!

Insist on frequent and consistent training of all staff and volunteers about child sexual abuse.

Policies and Organizational Practice

Adoption of different policies will vary depending on these contextual issues: Your organization’s mission and activities Culture and language of those served by

your organization Insurance requirements Available resources

Collaborative Practice

Promote local and state level collaboration among organizations to work together to prevent child abuse.

Build relationships with individuals and organizations in related areas to child abuse: Child Advocacy Centers Domestic Violence Mental Health Professionals Early Childhood Development Animal Abuse Others?? Who could you partner with?

Collaborative Practice

Combine resources to support prevention efforts. What does this take?

Promote sexual abuse prevention as a unit.

Use “reach” of the collaboration to increase public awareness. Identify your constituencies/target groups Develop a shared message Disseminate together

Collaborative Practice

Community Coalition Implementation: Who needs to be at the table?

Other non-profits, organizations, businesses, faith-based organizations, key stakeholders

MAKE A LIST! Top-down buy-in AND level-to-level buy-in Convenient time/place to meet

Over lunch Central location Plenty of parking

Collaborative Practice: Examples

Statewide Collaborations: Task Force on the Prevention of Sexual Abuse of ChildrenMissouri Prevention Partners

Community-based Collaboration: The Alliance of Southwest Missouri (CBCAP Model)

Taking Action

Breaking it Down: Individual ActionALL ADULTS ARE RESPONSIBLE IN PREVENTING SEXUAL ABUSE Promote adult and community responsibility. Educate children, youth and adults about

how to prevent, recognize and respond to child sexual abuse. Example: Bring Darkness to Light’s “Stewards of

Children” to your community Encourage people in your life to speak up

against child sexual abuse and change norms that encourage secrecy and denial.

Breaking it Down: Individual Action Pay attention! Observe and monitor the

relationships children have with the adults around you.

Create environments that are inhospitable to perpetrators of abuse.

Contact organizations already working to end child sexual abuse to offer support.

Suggest ways organizations can invite youth and adults to have a role in a community plan to prevent child sexual abuse.

Breaking it Down: Community Action

Child Sexual Abuse is a community problem that requires a community effort in order to identify effective community-wide prevention solutions. Identify and Encourage Family/Parent Leaders and

GET THEM INVOLVED. Identify local leaders and GET THEM INVOLVED Part of Prevention is Intervention

Support quality treatment and advocacy services

Encourage, support and provide child sexual abuse prevention training for everyone serving or interacting with children and youth AT EVERY LEVEL.

Breaking it Down: Community Action Training should be on-going and a regular

part of every organization’s policies and practices.

Form a community coalition dedicated to child sexual abuse prevention or;

Assess your current coalition to identify any new partners you would like to engage in your prevention efforts.

Assist all organizations in writing, implementing and enforcing child protective policies.

Begin with your own agency!

Breaking it Down: Community Action

Build in community outreach Start a speaker’s bureau Develop resources, materials to hand-out Contact local clubs, churches, organizations

Outreach Presentation What’s my goal? How do I best make the initial contact? Who is the audience going to be? What’s the most effective format?

1 to 1 or group presentation or other? Who will make the best “sell or ask”? What AV or handouts do I need?

Breaking it down: Policy-Level Action

Support policies and practices that address child sexual abuse. Does your organization have policies in place? Are they they always implemented? If not, why

not?

Meet with community leaders and policymakers and educate them about the importance of prevention. Do you know your district Representative and

Senator? Have they heard from you? Build a relationship!

Breaking it down: Policy-Level Action

Advocate for federal and state funding that supports prevention, intervention and treatment.

Support the development of evidence-based policies and laws that work to end child sexual abuse. What is the benefit of evidence-based policy

vs. reactive policy?

References

National Coalition to Prevent Child Sexual abuse and Exploitation. (2012). National Plan to Prevent the Sexual Abuse and Exploitation of Children (Rev. ed.). Retrieved from www.preventtogether.org

Darkness to Light. (2007). Stewards of Children: A Prevention and Response Program for Adults: Charleston, SC.

Saul J, Audage. (2007). Preventing Child Sexual Abuse Within Youth-Serving Organizations: Getting Started with Policies and Procedures. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control: Atlanta, GA.

Task Force on the Prevention of Sexual Abuse of Children. (2012). Report from the Task Force on the Prevention of Sexual Abuse of Children. Missouri KidsFirst, Children’s Trust Fund & Great Circle: Jefferson City, MO.

Contact Information

Nancy Corley, Project CARE DirectorThe Alliance of Southwest Missouri417-782-9899ncorley@theallianceofswmissouri.org

Marissa Gunther, Prevention CoordinatorMissouri KidsFirst573-632-4600marissa@missourikidsfirst.org