U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government, Department of Justice.

NCJRS Virtual Library

The Virtual Library houses over 235,000 criminal justice resources, including all known OJP works.
Click here to search the NCJRS Virtual Library

Preventing Child Sexual Abuse Within Youth-Serving Organizations: Getting Started on Policies and Procedures

NCJ Number
218505
Author(s)
Janet Saul Ph.D.; Natalie C. Audage MPH
Date Published
2007
Length
55 pages
Annotation
This report is intended for representatives of youth-serving organizations who are committed to adopting organizational strategies designed to prevent children from being sexually abused while participating in organization-sponsored activities.
Abstract
The report's first section outlines six key components of child sexual abuse prevention in youth-serving organizations. The components involve screening and selecting employees and volunteers, the development and promotion of guidelines for interactions between individuals, mechanisms for monitoring behavior, and the development of procedures for ensuring safe environments during organization-sponsored activities. Other components are the development of strategies for responding to inappropriate sexual behavior, breaches in policy, and allegations and suspicions of child sexual abuse, as well as staff training in child sexual abuse prevention. Aspects of each of these six components are described in detail, with attention to prevention goals, key strategies, and strategies tailored to various situations and resources of individual organizations. Suggestions are offered for addressing challenges in developing and implementing a strategy to prevent child sexual abuse. Tools are provided to help organizations in this effort. Appended resource list and sample policies