Resources and Guides for Youth-Serving Organizations
Below are resources to assist youth-serving organizations—including non-sexual assault service providers (SASPs)—and Department of Children and Families (DCF) and Department of Justice (DOJ) grantees implementing child sexual abuse (CSA) prevention procedures and policies. Included in the resources are training opportunities, general prevalence data, and policy development toolkits and guides.
Policy Development Resources
Preventing Child Sexual Abuse Within Youth-serving Organizations: Getting Started on Policies and Procedures - CDC | A toolkit to guide policy development in youth-serving organizations to prevent child sexual abuse
Guidance on OVW Award Conditions – OVW | This is a written guidance from the Department of Justice, Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) outlining OVW grantee award conditions for background checks
Special Condition on Background Checks, OVW Q&A - OVW | A recording of a Q & A session between OVW and coalitions regarding the new conditions for background checks in youth-serving organizations (please note entry code: $pecia1Cond)
General Frameworks and Resources
10 Core Concepts - WCASA | In collaboration with partners, WCASA developed these concepts to provide a comprehensive framework for child sexual abuse prevention
Preventing Child Sexual Abuse in Youth-Serving Organizations, Six Core Components – Awareness to Action (A2A) | A2A offers both training and written guidance on preventing CSA in youth-serving organizations. The link provided here connects to A2A’s ‘Six Core Components’ of preventing CSA in such organizations
Creating Organizational Policies to Prevent Sexual Abuse – The Prevention Researcher | This article reviews the essential elements required for organizations to implement meaningful policy and practice to prevent CSA
Preventing Child Sexual Abuse, Overview and Statistics – CDC | A general resource providing snapshots of data on the prevalence, incidence, and burden of child sexual abuse, as well as links to additional tools and resources on CSA prevention
Training Resources
Awareness to Action (A2A) – A2A offers training to youth-serving organizations wishing to implement policy and procedures to ensure the protection of youth, and prevent CSA
Darkness to Light – An organization empowering people to prevent child sexual abuse by providing a framework for CSA prevention, trainings, tools for practitioners, media campaigns and more. Their training called "Stewards of Children" is for parents, responsible adults, and youth-serving organizations.
Stop It Now! – organization founded by Fran Henry, a survivor of childhood sexual abuse who learned first-hand that standard approaches to keeping children safe from child sexual abuse at that time did not respond to the complex relationships surrounding most abuse.