Youth-serving organizations strive to create a safe environment for youth, employees, and volunteers so that youth can grow, learn, and have fun. Part of creating a safe environment is making sure that youth are not harmed in any way while participating in organization-sponsored activities. One risk in any organization working directly with youth is child sexual abuse.

It is vital that organizations create a culture where child sexual abuse is discussed, addressed, and prevented.

This report is designed for representatives of youth-serving organizations who are interested in adopting strategies to prevent child sexual abuse. Whether these strategies are developed within the context of an overall risk management plan or are addressed separately, organizations need to examine how they can protect youth from sexual abuse.

Definitions

• Children and youth

- Anyone between the ages of zero and 17 years. In this document, these terms are used interchangeably.

• Child sexual abuse

- “Child sexual abuse involves any sexual activity with a child where consent is not or cannot be given. This includes sexual contact that is accomplished by force or threat of force, regardless of the age of the participants, and all sexual contact between an adult and a child, regardless of whether there is deception or the child understands the sexual nature of the activity. Sexual contact between an older and a younger child also can be abusive if there is a significant disparity in age, development, or size, rendering the younger child incapable of giving informed consent. The sexually abusive acts may include sexual penetration, sexual touching, or non-contact sexual acts such as exposure or voyeurism.”

- Legal definitions vary by state, so look up your state guidelines using the Child Welfare Information Gateway (http://www.childwelfare.gov/).

What You Will Find in This Report

In the first section, you will find six key components of child sexual abuse prevention for organizations. These components were identified by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in conjunction with experts:

1. Screening and selecting employees and volunteers
2. Guidelines on interactions between individuals
3. Monitoring behavior
4. Ensuring safe environments
5. Responding to inappropriate behavior, breaches in policy, and allegations and suspicions of child sexual abuse
6. Training about child sexual abuse prevention.

Each component is described in detail, including the prevention goals, critical strategies, and additional strategies that could be considered depending on the context and resources of individual organizations.

The sections that follow offer suggestions for addressing challenges to developing and implementing a strategy to prevent child sexual abuse and provide tools to help organizations move forward. A list of publications and organizations that can provide helpful information is provided in Appendix B.

Download Preventing Child Sexual Abuse Within Youth-serving Organizations: Getting Started on Policies and Procedures

PDF format, 4.6MB, 55Pages. Provided by cdc.gov.

Preventing Child Sexual Abuse Within Youth-serving Organizations: Getting Started on Policies and Procedures is a publication of the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Julie L. Gerberding, M.D., M.P.H., Director

Coordinating Center for Environmental Health and Injury Prevention
Henry Falk, M.D., M.P.H., Director

National Center for Injury Prevention and Control
Ileana Arias, Ph.D., Director

Division of Violence Prevention
W. Rodney Hammond, Ph.D., Director

Authors:
Janet Saul, Ph.D.
Division of Violence Prevention
National Center for Injury Prevention and Control
Natalie C. Audage, M.P.H.
Consultant and former ASPH/CDC Fellow

Table of Contents:
Introduction............................................................................................................1
Components of Child Sexual Abuse Prevention ........................................................3
Screening and selecting employees and volunteers..............................................................4
Guidelines on interactions between individuals...................................................................9
Monitoring behavior.........................................................................................................13
Ensuring safe environments...............................................................................................15
Responding to inappropriate behavior, breaches in policy, and allegations
and suspicions of child sexual abuse.....................................................................17
Training about child sexual abuse prevention........................................................22
Training employees/volunteers.............................................................................24
Training caregivers...............................................................................................27
Training youth......................................................................................................28
Overcoming Challenges to Child Sexual Abuse Prevention in
Youth-serving Organizations.......................................................................29
Conclusion: Moving Forward.................................................................................33
Organizational processes for developing and implementing child sexual abuse
prevention policies................................................................................................33
Child sexual abuse prevention planning tool for organizations.........................................35
Appendixes
Appendix A: Participant List..................................................................................39
Appendix B: Resource List and Sample Policies.......................................................42
Books/Publications/Videos/Workshops..........................................................................42
Journal articles................................................................................................................47
Sample policies from participating organizations..............................................................47
Publications with sample policies and procedures.............................................................48
Relevant organizations.....................................................................................................49

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