Prevent Child Sexual Abuse
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351 Pleasant St, Suite B-319 Northhampton, MA 01060 413.587.3500 HELPLINE: 1.888.PREVENT www.stopitnow.org [email protected] Prevent Child Sexual Abuse: Facts about sexual abuse and how to prevent it 351 Pleasant St, Suite B-319 Northhampton, MA 01060 413.587.3500 HELPLINE: 1.888.PREVENT New Mexicowww Coalition.stopitnow.or gof Sexual Assaultinfo@stopitno Programs,w.org Inc. 3909 Juan Tabo NE, Suite 6 Albuquerque, NM 87111 (505) 883-8020 (within the Albuquerque Area) (888) 883-8020 (outside of the Albuquerque Area) e-mail: [email protected] Web site: www.nmcsap.org NMCSAP is a member of the Stop It Now! network. To order additional copies, contact: The Safer Society Press P.O. Box 340 Brandon, VT 05733-0340 802.247.3132 © 2008 Stop It Now! All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written permission from Stop It Now! PREVENTION, TREATMENT A HAPPINESS WORTH DEFENDING AND RECOVERY RESOURCES Stop It Now!® The Association for the Treatment 351 Pleasant St., Suite B–319, Northampton, MA of Sexual Abusers (ATSA) 01060 4900 SW Griffith Drive, Suite 274, Beaverton, OR Office: 413.587.3500 97005 Helpline: 1.888.PREVENT (1.888.773.8368) Office: 503.643.1023 Fax: 503.643.5084 Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] Website: www.stopitnow.org Website: www.atsa.com Stop It Now! offers adults the tools they need to A national organization developing and disseminating prevent sexual abuse before a child is harmed. We professional standards and practices in the field of sex provide support, information and resources that offender research, evaluation, and treatment. Call or enable individuals and families to keep children safe email for a referral to a local treatment provider. and create healthier communities. In collaboration with our network of community-based programs, we National Center on Sexual Behavior of Youth reach out to adults who are concerned about their 940 N.E. 13th St., 3B-3406, Oklahoma City, OK 73104 own or others’ sexualized behavior toward children. Office: 405.271.8858 Contact our confidential, national toll-free HELPLINE Website: www.ncsby.org (1.888.PREVENT) for support, resources and referrals Information concerning sexual development and or visit our website at www.stopitnow.org. youth with sexual behavior problems. Kids are terrific—happy, innocent, and free. They The Safer Society Foundation National Center for Victims of Crime (NCVC) can remind us of what is best about ourselves. When P.O. Box 340, Brandon, VT 05733-0340 2000 M St., NW, Suite 480, Washington, DC 20036 Office: 802.247.3132 Fax: 802.247.4233 Office: 202.467.8700 Fax: 202.467.8701 they are sexually abused, that happiness is dimmed, Website: www.safersociety.org Toll-free: 1.800.FYI.CALL (1.800.394.2255) sometimes for life. With your help, more kids will get Call for a referral to a local treatment provider for TDD: 1.800.211.7996 to grow up full of light and life. a child, adolescent or adult with sexual behavior Email: [email protected] or [email protected] concerns. (M-F, 9–4:30 p.m. ET). Also provides Website: www.ncvc.org publications for youth or adults with sexual behavior An information and referral center for victims. Kids shouldn’t have to try to prevent problems, their families, survivors, treatment Through its database of over 30,000 organizations, One in three girls and sexual abuse all by themselves. We providers, and mandated reporters. Call for a free NCVC refers callers to services including crisis one in seven boys are adults have to learn to recognize when catalogue. intervention, research information, assistance with the Child Molestation Research criminal justice process, counseling, support groups, sexually abused before people are acting inappropriately and referrals to local attorneys in victim-related cases. 1 and Prevention Institute age 18. around our children…and to speak up P.O. Box 7593, Atlanta, GA 30357 Childhelp USA before a child is harmed. Office: 404.872.5152 National Child Abuse Hotline: 1.800.4.A.CHILD Website: www.childmolestationprevention.org (1.800.422.4453) Thank you for all you already do to help our children Online directory for sex-specific therapists for Website: www.childhelpusa.org evaluation and treatment. Extensive reading lists for Provides a broad continuum of programs that directly grow up free from sexual abuse. parents of children with sexual behavior problems and serve abused children and their families. Adults and parents of victims, for professionals, adults with sexual children can request local telephone numbers to If you know of a child who is being sexually abused, behavior concerns, adults molested as children and report cases of abuse or access crisis intervention, call the Stop It Now!® Helpline at 1.888.PREVENT their partners. information, literature, and referrals to thousands of emergency, social service, and support resources. All for information on how to report it or visit us on the The New England Adolescent Research Institute (NEARI) calls are anonymous and confidential. web at www.stopitnow.org. 70 North Summer St., Holyoke, MA 01040 The Child Welfare Information Gateway Office: 413.540.0712 Children’s Bureau/ACYF Website: www.neari.com 1250 Maryland Ave., SW, 8th Floor Catalogue of publications for professionals and Washington, DC 20024 families addressing treatment and recovery for Office: 703.385.7565 or 800.394.3366 sexually aggressive youth and youth with sexual Website: www.childwelfare.gov/ behavior problems. A resource and clearinghouse that collects, stores, organizes and disseminates information on all aspects 1 22 WHY DO WE NEED TO LEARN A CALL TO ACTION ABOUT SEXUAL ABUSE OF CHILDREN? CONTACT Our silence allows people who sexually abuse children Every day, adults miss real Children are routinely taught to ® to get and maintain access to vulnerable children. opportunities to prevent child sexual speak up if someone approaches Stop It Now! We can all help prevent and stop the sexual abuse of abuse because of misinformation and them in a sexual way. But to make our Helpline children by speaking up and by learning some simple confusing stereotypes about sexual communities safe, we need to do more. action steps. abuse. It is estimated that more than Kids shouldn’t have the burden of 1.888.PREVENT 300,000 children are sexually abused preventing sexual abuse by themselves. If you know that a child has been sexually abused, every year.2 Chances are, you already EMAIL you need to report it. You can call your local police know a boy or girl who has been Adults must act on their commitment department or your local child protective services to keeping kids safe by learning helpline@stopitnow. sexually abused—and in all likelihood office. You can also bring the child directly to a know someone who has abused a child. to recognize and respond to org therapist or a doctor, both of whom are required to By educating yourself, you can become inappropriate behaviors around kids, report the abuse. a powerful force in making the world a before a child is In 90% of child sexual VISIT More often, concerns lie in a “gray area” of vague safer place for kids. harmed. abuse cases, the child our website at uneasiness, sketchy details or uncertainty about what It’s only in the last few decades And adults knows and trusts the is actually happening. Sometimes concerns persist, www.stopitnow.org that we, as a society, have started to have to person who sexually even after an outside inquiry or evaluation fails to acknowledge how widespread child learn what abuses them.3 uncover abuse. There are still things you can do. sexual abuse has been and how much to do when Prevention is a process. Keep the conversation going. it hurts children. One in five adults it seems like If you do not know where to go or you are unsure report that they were sexually abused someone may be sexually interested of what you are seeing, you can call Stop It Now!’s as children, an experience that in children or is harming a child in a confidential, toll-free, national Helpline at 1.888. increases vulnerability to depression, sexual way. As when you see someone PREVENT (1.888.773.8368) for supportive guidance, substance abuse, aggression, and who is drinking and planning to drive: information and resources. Our Helpline is staffed other difficulties.4 More than 85% of you step forward and offer help so they by professionals who know about the issue. You can adults who were abused say they never don’t hurt someone. call to simply explore the situation and think through reported the abuse to authorities.5 Citations This guidebook contains a lot of the options for next steps. The Helpline staff is trained to In response to this new awareness, information about how adults can step 1. Briere, J., Eliot, D.M., 2003 assist with questions such as: 2. Finkelhor 2004 lawmakers have focused on managing forward and help protect children. It 3. Finkelhor 2004 • What situations make kids vulnerable convicted sex offenders and publicizing describes what to look for and how to 4. Stop It Now! unpublished • What are the signs of sexual abuse? their whereabouts. While these talk with other adults and with children market research data 1997 to measures have increased community about preventing sexual abuse. It offers 2007 • What actions can I take to keep kids safe? 5. Hanson, Resnick, Saunders, awareness, they address only a tiny guidance about what to do when you Kilpatrrick, 1999 • How can I discuss my concerns with others? portion of those who are at risk have a concern, even if you think, 6.