Task Force on the Prevention of Child Sexual Abuse

Meeting Notes Wednesday, October 7th, 2015 11:30 am -12:30pm

I. Welcome and Introductions a. About 40 people from various organizations throughout the state of Nevada were in attendance for the Task Force Meeting. People were in attendance in person at the Las Vegas location, Reno location, and Carson City location. Additional attendees were present over the phone. II. Purpose of Task Force and Structure a. The Task Force on the Prevention of Child Sexual Abuse was first created through Governor Sandoval’s initiative in 2013. The task force is no longer a legislative mandate, but organizations throughout the state expressed the wish that the task force reconvene to address the issue of child sexual abuse prevention in Nevada. b. Attendees agreed to create subgroups to address the issues facing the Task Force. These subgroups will meet more frequently than the general group to focus on specific issues the Task Force wants to address. The topics include: b.i. Curriculum Standards: This subgroup is tasked with reviewing current curriculum standards and make recommendations to amend or add to include Child Sexual Abuse Prevention b.ii. Evidence based prevention programs: This subgroup is tasked with researching evidence based programs to be incorporated into community efforts to prevent child sexual abuse. b.iii. Other recommendations: This subgroup is tasked with examining the remaining recommendations listed in the 2014 Task Force Report that can be found here: http://dcfs.nv.gov/uploadedFiles/dcfsnvgov/content/Tips/Reports/SB258%20Re port.pdf . This subgroup will make recommendations of further action based on these recommendations. b.iv. Community clearinghouse: This subgroup is tasked with networking with other stakeholders, organizations and individuals in the community that have any relationship to dealing with child sexual abuse in any form. III. Discussion for Each Subgroup a. Curriculum Standards: a.i. It was discussed that sexual abuse prevention curriculum should remain separate from sex education curriculum, because sex education curriculum can only be taught by certified school nurses and health teachers. a.ii. It was discussed that sexual abuse prevention curriculum not be opt-in because of the many students who might miss out on this crucial messaging. a.iii. The task force also discussed having the school districts across the state involved in the conversations about revising curriculum, so that the recommendations will be easier to implement. a.iv. It was also recommended that the Task Force look at the existing health standards to see where they can be added to or amended. Small revisions will be easier to undertake than trying to completely changing the entire curriculum, although this could be an eventual goal of the Task Force. a.v. It was also recommended that the Task Force examine the new bullying legislation in the schools because of the overlap it might have with child sexual abuse prevention. b. Evidence Based Programs b.i. Task Force attendees also discussed the role the Task Force will take in recommending evidence based programs for child sexual abuse prevention. It was decided that a subcommittee would be created to examine this information and present back to the larger group. c. Recommendations: c.i. In the original formation of the Task Force on the Prevention of Child Sexual Abuse, there were 21 additional recommendations presented besides the recommendation for revising school district curriculum to include child sexual prevention programming. It was discussed that these additional recommendations also be addressed by this reconvened Task Force. These recommendations can be found on the Task Force on the Prevention of Child Sexual Abuse 2014 Report which can be found on Prevent Child Abuse Nevada’s Child Sexual Abuse Prevention Website. d. Other Comments: d.i. Attendees also discussed searching for funding for prevention programs as a possible goal of the task force moving forward. d.ii. A webpage is also being set up to provide updates about Task Force business. We will let you know once the webpage can be accessed. IV. Updates Regarding Child Sexual Abuse Prevention a. In May 2015 the Enough Abuse Campaign was brought to Southern Nevada. Forty people were trained to facilitate Enough Abuse Presentations within the community. a.i. The Enough Abuse Campaign is a Sexual Abuse Prevention Program specifically for adults. The Campaign offers educational information to parents, youth, professionals, and other concerned adults to prevent people from victimizing children today and to prevent children from developing abusive behaviors in the future. a.ii. Information about the information covered in the Enough Abuse Campaign can be found at www.enoughabuse.org . Information about scheduling or attending a presentation can be found at www.rcclv.org . b. Enough Abuse Campaign launch in Northern Nevada b.i. We would like to offer the Enough Abuse Campaign statewide. Consequently, we are planning on offering a launch and training in the North. We will update the task force as soon as we have more information about these meetings. c. Child Sexual Abuse Prevention Curriculum in Schools-New Legislation Review c.i. Review of Current Programs: Child Assault Prevention Program (CAP) c.i.1. CAP is a program currently being implemented in Washoe and in the Clark County School District. However, in Clark County School District only 11 schools brought in programming last year, suggesting that many more students are not receiving child sexual abuse prevention programming. c.ii. Update on New Programs: Care For Kids c.ii.1. There are plans to bring another prevention program called Care For Kids to the state in the future. A few people in Southern Nevada are trained in this program, but the program has not yet been launched in Nevada. This will be discussed in more detail in the next task force meeting. Care For Kids is a health-based curriculum for children from 3-8 years old. This curriculum contains 6 units: Bodies, Babies, Feelings, Bedtime, Touching, and Asking for Help. Each unit teaches and reinforces 2 to 4 age-appropriate messages via a circle time, a song, a book, and an activity or craft. V. Presentation of Statewide Opinion Poll a. In 2015, the Nevada Institute for Children’s Research and Policy commissioned a phone survey of 384 random adults throughout the state of Nevada to gauge trends in perceptions on topics of child abuse and neglect prevention. The purpose of conducting this survey was to gather baseline data to compare any changes over time on the public’s perception of the ability to prevent child abuse and neglect, and specifically the preventability of child sexual abuse.

b. Results of the Statewide Opinion Poll are attached to this email and can also be found at http://nic.unlv.edu/pcan/CSA.html VI. Setting Next Meeting Dates a. The next meeting of the full Task Force will convene on January 13th, 2016. Information about the meeting times of the four subgroups have yet to be scheduled, but Task Force members will be notified once these dates are set. b. Sign up for a workgroup through the Survey Link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/JYMZTSG the link is also in the same email that you received these minutes. If you want to join a subgroup, please sign up using the survey link by Friday, October 23, 2015. b.i. Curriculum Standards: This subgroup is tasked with reviewing current curriculum standards and make recommendations to amend or add to include Child Sexual Abuse Prevention b.ii. Evidence based prevention programs: This subgroup is tasked with researching evidence based programs to be incorporated into community efforts to prevent child sexual abuse. b.iii. Other recommendations: This subgroup is tasked with examining the remaining recommendations listed in the 2014 Task Force Report that can be found here: . This subgroup will make recommendations of further action based on these recommendations. b.iv. Community clearinghouse: This subgroup is tasked with networking with other stakeholders, organizations and individuals in the community that have any relationship to dealing with child sexual abuse in any form.