How can Youth Serving Organizations prevent child sexual abuse?

With a focused approach and your organization’s commitment

Improved academic achievement. Stronger relationships with parents and peers. Reduced risk-taking behaviors. These are just some of the positive outcomes that hundreds of millions of children and teens experience by participating in youth serving organizations.

These community institutions also play a critical role in preventing child sexual abuse, which 27.4% of U.S. youth aged 14-17 report experiencing, according to research published in JAMA Pediatrics.

This project presents a framework of best practices, re-built for modern times, that youth serving organizations large and small can adopt in their local settings to protect the children and teens in their care while continuing to provide them with safe places where they can thrive.

Who developed this framework to prevent child sexual abuse?

This framework was developed by leading experts from academic institutions in the U.S. and abroad. An advisory group comprised of senior level youth serving organizations’ representatives helped guide the research project that informed this work. Funding was provided by the Bloomberg American Health Initiative.

Eight steps to preventing child sexual abuse

Refer to this quick summary to judge whether your organization has policies in place to consistently protect children and teens in their care. The full Desk Guide provides additional guidance, questions, and strategies for how to improve policies and procedures in any youth serving organization.

  • 1 Focus on child wellbeing

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    Goal no. 1:

    The safety of children and teens should be your organization’s highest priority.

    Creating a truly child-safe space starts with establishing strong policies and practices that reinforce caring and professional adult relationships with children.

    Critical Questions to Ask

    • Does my organization place child wellbeing and safety ahead of all other organizational goals?
    • Does my organization instill a sense of professionalism in staff and volunteers?
    • Does my organization foster a child safe culture?
    • Do my organization’s policies, practices, culture, and monitoring work to improve child wellbeing and safety?

  • 2 Build on training

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    Goal no. 2:

    Preventing child sexual abuse requires robust education and training for everyone in the organization, at every level.

    Education and training designed for leaders, staff, volunteers — as well as modified training for parents, children and teens — is an essential component of every organization’s prevention efforts.

    Critical Questions to Ask

    • Does my organization have training materials on child sexual abuse prevention for: leaders; staff and volunteers; children and youth; parents and reassess these materials on a periodic basis?
    • Does my organization deliver this training for: leaders; staff and volunteers; children and youth; parents on a periodic basis?
    • Does training for my organization’s staff focus on building the required knowledge of — and attitudes related to — the impact of child sexual abuse?
    • Does my organization provide training for children, youth, and parents about our code of conduct?
    • Does my organization regularly evaluate how our training is improving child wellbeing and safety?

  • 3 INCREASE MONITORING OF ADULT-CHILD INTERACTIONS

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    Goal no. 3:

    Increased monitoring of adult-child interactions is an important strategy to enhance the safety of children participating in programming at youth serving organizations.

    Organizations should create regulations and re-design physical spaces when possible to enhance monitoring of all adult-child interactions as much as possible.

    Critical Questions to Ask

    • Does my organization’s physical space allow for maximum observation of adult-child interactions?
    • Does my organization have a system in place to evaluate child wellbeing and safety when interactions cannot be observed?
    • Do my organization’s rules increase the likelihood that adult-child interactions are visible to other adults or regularly monitor adherence to policies, rules, and maintenance of healthy boundaries?

  • 4 COLLABORATE WITH PARENTS AND YOUTH

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    Goal no. 4:

    Create stronger professional relationships with children by establishing clear communication channels.

    Parents and children should be regularly surveyed and interviewed about their interactions with leadership, staff and volunteers.

    Critical Questions to Ask

    • Does my organization collaborate with children and parents to develop our policies and procedures?
    • Does my organization view children and parents as part of the solution in preventing and addressing child sexual abuse?

  • 5 IDENTIFY AND ADDRESS SAFETY CONCERNS

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    Goal no. 5:

    Set goals to become child safe. Find the means to make it happen.

    Every organization must first identify their setting-specific safety concerns, from environmental factors to daily routines that may create risky situations. They must then generate, implement and monitor solutions to those risks, with input from key stakeholders.

    Critical Questions to Ask

    • Does my organization’s assessment process obtain input from key stakeholder groups to identify the full range of safety risk types and develop solutions to address these risks on a recurrent basis?
    • Does my organization complete each of the steps in conducting the safety risk assessment?
    • Does my organization complete each of the steps involved in prioritizing identified safety risks?
    • Does my organization complete each of the steps involved in the solution development process?
    • Does my organization complete each of the steps involved in the solution implementation and monitoring process?

  • 6 Increase accountability

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    Goal no. 6:

    Review, evaluate and improve prevention efforts.

    Creating child-safe spaces requires consistent implementation of policies and practices, strong oversight and the active participation of everyone in the organization.

    Critical Questions to Ask

    • Does my organization have a holistic, overall system of evaluation and accountability?
    • Does my organization have ongoing methods of evaluation and accountability that are implemented at both the individual and organizational level?
    • Does my organization regularly review and improve child safe practices, especially for high-risk activities, and impose due diligence requirements on its leaders or office-bearers?
    • Does my organization analyze complaints to identify causes and systemic failures to inform continuous improvement in organizational safeguarding?
    • Does my organization have a process for including evaluation and oversight by an independent body?

  • 7 ADDRESS YOUTH SEXUAL BEHAVIOR

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    Goal no. 7:

    Be prepared to respond to sexual behavior between youth.

    Organizations must develop separate measures to address sexual behavior between the youth in their care, as policies meant to prevent adults from abusing youth will prove inadequate.

    Critical Questions to Ask

    • Does my organizational policy frame sexual behavior between youth as developmentally normative, even if such behavior is prohibited?
    • Does my organization have a graduated approach to addressing youth sexual behavior when it occurs?
    • Does my organization have clear criteria regarding when to report youth sexual behavior to law enforcement or child protective services?
    • Does my organization train staff and volunteers to treat all youth equally?
    • Does my organization avoid sexualizing and stigmatizing labels of youth involved in consensual or problem sexual behaviors?

  • 8 Strengthen human resources

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    Goal no. 8:

    Prioritize child safety with a rigorous recruitment and selection process.

    Any organization is ultimately defined by the people within it. Creating a child-safe space becomes easier by refining recruitment processes to lessen risk, while helping new staff and volunteers truly embrace their role in protecting children and teens.

    Critical Questions to Ask

    • Does my organization have a plan for recruiting applicants capable and desirous of ensuring the safety of children in our care?
    • Does my organization have a plan for selecting among recruited applicants those capable and desirous of ensuring the safety of children in our care?
    • Does my organization have a plan for socializing new staff and volunteers so that they embrace attitudes conducive to ensuring the safety of children in our care?
    • Does my organization have a plan for supervising staff and volunteers to ensure they are effectively prioritizing the safety of children in our care?
    • Does my organization designate a position or person as solely or partly responsible for managing some or all aspects of child safety in our organization?

Research Team

  • Elizabeth J. Letourneau, PhD

    Moore Center for the Prevention of Child Sexual Abuse

    Department of Mental Health

    Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

  • Luciana C. Assini-Meytin, PhD

    Moore Center for the Prevention of Child Sexual Abuse

    Department of Mental Health

    Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

  • Keith L. Kaufman, PhD

    Department of Psychology

    Portland State University

  • Ben Mathews, PhD

    School of Law

    Queensland University of Technology

  • Donald Palmer, PhD

    Graduate School of Management

    University of California, Davis

  • Podcast

    A conversation about how to help organizations better protect those in their care.

    Listen Now

  • Desk Guide

    Are you a leader of a national, regional or local youth serving organization? Read this guide to get in-depth guidance on addressing child sexual abuse, and actionable options on how to prevent it.

    Download Desk Guide

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