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
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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
As suggested by the National Plan to Prevent
the Sexual Abuse and Exploitation of Children
Action Areas:
Research
Public Awareness and Education
Policies and Organizational Practice
Collaborative Practice
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 factors
Help for victims
Help for perpetrators
Effective prevention, response and treatment
models
What the issue looks like in your community
Research
Resources:
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
National Sexual Violence Resource Center
National Child Traumatic Stress Network
Child 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
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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:
Public Awareness and Education
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
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Who do I need to spread the message to?
Why is that person(s) important?
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
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Promote prevention programs that are evidencebased 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 Organizational Practices
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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 adultone child situations.
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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.
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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
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Combine resources to support prevention efforts.
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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, faithbased 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 Children
Missouri Prevention Partners
Community-based Collaboration:
The Alliance of Southwest Missouri (CBCAP Model)
Taking Action
Breaking it Down: Individual Action
ALL 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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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.
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What is the benefit of evidence-based policy vs. reactive
policy?
References
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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 Director
The Alliance of Southwest Missouri
417-782-9899
ncorley@theallianceofswmissouri.org
Marissa Gunther, Prevention Coordinator
Missouri KidsFirst
573-632-4600
marissa@missourikidsfirst.org