Taking Action to Prevent Child Sexual Abuse
Stop It Now!® Minnesota works to promote healthy and caring environments for children, safe from sexual abuse. Our mission is to prevent the sexual abuse of children before a child is harmed and before an adult, youth, or child acts in a sexually inappropriate way towards a child. We believe that adults—not children—are responsible for preventing child sexual abuse.
We use many methods to accomplish our mission including:
- Influencing policies and legislation
- Changing organizational practices
- Fostering coalitions and networks
- Educating providers
- Promoting community education
- Strengthening individual knowledge and skills.
Stop It Now! Minnesota is sponsored by Project Pathfinder, in collaboration with ten organizational partners. The .pdf Who We Are provides an overview of our work.
Funding
We received start-up funding from the Minnesota Department of Health in 2002 and were one of three organizations nationally selected to receive funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for Collaborative Efforts to Prevent the Perpetration of Child Sexual Abuse. We have completed ourf funding cycle from the CDC and are at a crucial point in our short history as we seek support to sustain our work. We have been fortunate to receive both local and national foundation support, but cannot sustain our work without the support of individual donors. Please donate to help us continue our work to prevent child sexual abuse.
Taking Action
Educate Yourself
Click here to learn about the educational materials Stop It Now! Minnesota has available.
Invite a speaker or sponsor a workshop
Click here to learn about training, workshop, and speakers.
Apply to be a distribution partner (.pdf)
Research News
Stop It Now! Minnesota conducts formative research to inform our program directions. We have published the following research reports.
Press Room
Ad Campaign
New “Let's Talk” Information Guide available
The Woodsman: An Opportunity for Community Conversations about Child Sexual Abuse
Policy and Systems Change Initiatives
Stop It Now! Minnesota is currently seeking funding for several initiatives to reduce the barriers faced by adults seeking help for their own or someone else's sexualized behaviors towards children. To learn more about these initiatives, contact our Program Manager at jparmett@projectpathfinder.org or 651-644-8515, extension 2878.
Early Interventions to Connect Sexual Behavior Concerns and Drug and Alcohol Abuse
Through our social marketing research with adults at risk of sexually abusing a child, we learned that many adults said they wanted to stop their sexual behaviors towards children but didn't know how. They also reported being afraid to ask for help for their sexual behavior concerns. However, many sought help for other issues including drug and alcohol abuse, depression, relationship difficulties, etc. Based on this finding, Stop It Now! Minnesota has developed a research project to understand current protocols for screening adults concerned about their drug and/or alcohol use for sexual behavior concerns. These results would be used to recommend screening protocols to help us identify adults with sexual behavior concerns earlier, ideally before a child has been harmed.
Barriers Adults Face in Taking Action when Concerned about Someone's BehaviorTowards Children
Adults can play an important role in protecting children. Yet, oftentimes, adults don't take action when they are concerned about someone's behavior towards a child. Stop It Now! Minnesota has developed a research project to learn from adults who know someone who has sexually abused a child about what would have encouraged them as well as what discouraged them from taking action on their concerns.
Policies and Practices of Youth- and Child-Serving Organizations
Stop It Now! Minnesota is developing training and educational materials to help youth- and child-serving organizations develop comprehensive policies and practices to reduce the risk that children will be harmed by inappropriate sexual behaviors. Please contact us at stopitnowmn@projectpathfinder.org if you would like your organization to be involved in a pilot project to test this approach.
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