Find tools, curricula, and programs designed to raise awareness and reduce risk factors related to child sexual abuse. Resources include State and local examples.
Child Sexual Abuse Prevention and Risk Reduction: Literature Review for Parents and Guardians (PDF - 282 KB)
National Sexual Violence Resource Center & Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape (2011)
Examines research on prevention efforts that target parents to increase their knowledge of child sexual abuse prevention and motivate parents to educate and protect children.
Child Sexual Abuse Prevention Programs for Children
National Sexual Violence Resource Center (2011)
Describes child sexual abuse prevention programs designed to educate children, assists advocates and prevention educators in selecting or designing prevention programs, and provides evidence to make the case for the benefits of these programs to funders, parents, or the community at large.
Circles of Safety Training
Stop it Now!
Discusses The Circles curriculum, which is structured into five modules that provide information and education about child sexual abuse, such as the warning signs, effective communication skills, and healthy sexuality.
Commentary on “Human Trafficking and Domestic Violence: Etiology, Intervention, and Overlap with Child Maltreatment” (PDF - 80 KB)
Lloyd (2015)
Journal of Applied Research on Children: Informing Policy for Children at Risk, 6(1)
Discusses the root cause of commercial sexual exploitation of children.
The National Strategy for Child Exploitation Prevention and Interdiction: A Report to Congress (PDF - 8,410 KB)
United States Department of Justice (2016)
Presents the results of an assessment of child exploitation in the United States and reviews the significant efforts being undertaken by Federal, State, and local agencies to address child exploitation.
Preventing Child Sexual Abuse: Fact Sheet (PDF - 68 KB)
Prevent Child Abuse America (2013)
Explains the advocacy focus of Prevent Child Abuse America, which includes raising awareness of the unacceptability of sexual abuse and promoting the notion that stopping abuse is everyone's responsibility; educating the public and policymakers about the true nature of sexual abuse; evaluating and strengthening existing sexual abuse prevention programs; shifting the prevention of sexual abuse from children to adults; exploring, evaluating, and strengthening new approaches to prevent sexual abuse; and making mental health services available to all those affected by child sexual abuse.
Prevent Child Sexual Abuse: Facts About Sexual Abuse and How to Prevent It (PDF - 1321 KB)
Stop It Now! (2010)
Offers tips for talking with adults and children about preventing sexual abuse and includes guidance on what to do when abuse is suspected.
Protecting Your Children: Advice From Child Molesters (PDF - 149 KB)
Center for Behavioral Intervention (2010)
Describes typical child molesters, explains how they gain access to children, lists indications that a child is being molested, and provides tips for prevention and where to get help.
Rules and Guidelines
Mothers of Sexually Abused Children (2016)
Lists household rules that should be established in a safety plan after the disclosure of child sexual abuse. General house rules are provided that address appropriate clothing, tickling, wrestling, respect, kindness, and pornography. Bedroom rules cover bedroom sharing, location of bedrooms, knocking, night lights, and closed doors. Additional rules address the use of bathrooms, entertainment and computer use, physical contact, parents' bedrooms, childcare, and staying alone at home.
Sexual Abuse of Children With Disabilities: A National Snapshot (PDF - 385 KB)
Smith & Harrell (2013)
Vera Institute of Justice, Center on Victimization and Safety
Provides an overview on the incidence and prevalence of sexual abuse of children with disabilities and discusses the dynamics of that abuse. The overview includes the factors that contribute to its high prevalence, the status of prevention and intervention services designed to address this problem, and critical gaps and opportunities.
Stewards of Children
Darkness to Light
A child sexual abuse prevention program, offered in online and instructor-led formats, designed for child-serving organizations that teaches adults to prevent, recognize, and react responsibly to suspected abuse. The website provides video clips from the training, program evaluation information, and more.
Straight Talk About Child Sexual Abuse: A Prevention Guide for Parents (PDF - 292 KB)
Bernier (2014)
Enough Abuse Campaign
Provides a brochure for parents residing in the Greater Bay Area in California. The brochure offers information on types of child sexual abuse, such as characteristics of perpetrators and children sexually abusing other children, tips for protecting a child from sexual abuse and reducing risk factors, symptoms that a child has been sexually abused, and steps to take if a child discloses sexual abuse.
Teaching Children and Parents About Child Sexual Abuse Prevention With the Safe Touches Program
Pulido (2012)
Social Work Today, Web Exclusive
Highlights a curriculum developed by the New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NYSPCC) to prevent child sexual abuse. "Safe Touches: A Personal Safety Training for Children" has four goals: to provide information on the difference between safe and unsafe touching, to define for children the body parts that are considered private, to teach children who to go to when they feel unsafe or confused, and to teach children assertive language skills.
Understanding Child Sexual Abuse and the Technology Facilitated Compliant Victim (PDF - 347 KB)
Farley (2014)
Farley International
Explains teen and tween characteristics that make them vulnerable to sexual advances over the Internet and the inability of adolescents to give consent even if they are a compliant victim. Also included is how adult molesters groom the compliant victim, specific questions that should be asked of technology-related compliant victims, the reluctance of compliant victims to disclose their abuse, technology-facilitated dangers for children, and mobile technology-facilitated dangers for children.
State and local examples
Preventing Child Sexual Abuse (PDF - 314 KB)
Prevent Child Abuse New York (2010)
Makes specific recommendations for preventing child sexual abuse, including raising awareness of the unacceptability of child sexual abuse and promoting the notion that stopping child sexual abuse is everyone's responsibility; educating the public; evaluating and strengthening existing child sexual abuse prevention programs; shifting the prevention of child sexual abuse from children to adults; providing access to mental health services for victims of child sexual abuse; and exploring, evaluating, and strengthening new approaches to child sexual abuse.
Preventing Child Sexual Abuse (PDF - 2,500 KB)
Virginia Department of Social Services, Child Protective Services Unit & James Madison University, Department of Psychology (2010)
Virginia Child Protection Newsletter, 89
Discusses the effectiveness of child-focused sexual abuse prevention programs and offers suggestions for improving child- and parent-focused efforts. The article addresses recommendations for training professionals who interact with children, the management of sexual offenders, trends that indicate sex crimes against youth are declining, and the movement towards a prevention perspective. Article begins on page 11.
Recommendations for the Prevention of Child Sexual Abuse in North Carolina (PDF - 3,310 KB)
North Carolina Coalition for the Prevention of Child Sexual Abuse (2015)
Reviews the lifelong impact of child sexual abuse, its prevalence and incidence, how to prevent it, and the link between child sexual abuse and human trafficking. Specific recommendations are also addressed.
Safe Touches Program
Pulido (2012)
Social Work Today
Highlights a curriculum developed by the New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NYSPCC) to prevent child sexual abuse. Specifically designed to reach children in kindergarten through third grade, the 45-minute workshop uses colorful, culturally appropriate puppets to engage children in role-play scenarios to help children learn about the private parts of their body, recognize safe and unsafe touches, and identify whom to tell if they have experienced an unsafe touch. Additional information is provided on training for parent associations on child sexual abuse prevention and on a study to evaluate the Safe Touches workshops.