Preventing and Responding to Child Sexual Abuse: Organizational Efforts

Authors

Luciana C. Assini-Meytin, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Keith L. Kaufman, Portland State UniversityFollow
Ben Mathews, Queensland University of TechnologyFollow
Donald A. Palmer, University of California, Davis
Maggie Ingram, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Healt
Elizabeth J. Letourneau, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

Sponsor

This work was supported by the Bloomberg American Health Initiative, United States (High Impact Award) and by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, United States (R49 CE003090; Johns Hopkins Center for Injury Research and Policy, Project 2: Evaluating Child Sexual Abuse Prevention Strategies within Youth Serving Organizations).

Published In

Child Abuse & Neglect

Document Type

Citation

Publication Date

12-25-2020

Abstract

Background: Child sexual abuse (CSA) remains an ongoing threat to the wellbeing of children who might be victimized, to the liberty of individuals who might engage in abusive behavior, and to the reputations and livelihood of organizations in which abuse might occur. In the U.S., millions of children participate in youth-serving organizations (YSOs), and it is known that a proportion of CSA occurs in these settings. Despite the severity of these threats, there is little knowledge of the steps that organizations take to prevent and respond to CSA.

Objective: Our study aimed to index current measures to prevent and respond to CSA in organizational settings, using four of the largest U.S.-based YSOs as exemplars.

Methods: In partnership with our partner YSOs, we completed a qualitative analysis of 74 organizational documents including written policies, codes of conduct, trainings, and other documents that formalize these four organizations’ current CSA prevention and intervention efforts.

Results: These organizations collectively implement hundreds of distinct measures aimed at preventing, detecting, and responding to CSA. These measures were categorized under eight overarching themes, including: overall commitment to child safety, code of conduct, training and education, assessment, implementation and monitoring, screening and hiring, reporting and responding to child sexual abuse, youth problem sexual behavior, and boundaries for teen leaders and young adult staff.

Conclusion: Findings from the current study, outlining key prevention and policy areas undertaken by participating YSOs, offer a starting point for discussion about core elements needed to keep children safe from sexual abuse in YSO settings.

Rights

© 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Locate the Document

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2020.104892

DOI

10.1016/j.chiabu.2020.104892

Persistent Identifier

https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/35073

Citation Details

Assini-Meytin, L. C., Kaufman, K. L., Mathews, B., Palmer, D. A., Ingram, M., & Letourneau, E. J. (2021). Preventing and responding to child sexual abuse: Organizational efforts. Child Abuse & Neglect, 112, 104892. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2020.104892