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Winter 2006, Vol. 14, No. 1
Communities Take Responsibility
Helping Youth with Sexual Behavior Problems
By
Sarita Hudson, Director of Field Development, Stop It Now!
Forty-three percent of sexual assaults against children ages
six and under are attributable to juveniles (National Center
for Juvenile Justice, 1999). In addition, a public opinion
survey in 2003 by Stop It Now! Minnesota found that adults
are most confused about sexual behaviors between children
and youth. If adults are unclear about what is sexually healthy
or developmentally appropriate between children and youth,
they will be unable to recognize and take action to prevent
abuse. A necessary part, then, of the public health prevention
of child sexual abuse must be to educate adult caregivers
and professionals who work with children and youth about what
is healthy sexual development as well as what is inappropriate
or abusive. Here’s a sampling of how Stop It Now! helps communities
tackle this important part of keeping children safe.
 The
Stop It Now! sites in Georgia, Minnesota, and Philadelphia
see educating adults about both healthy and at-risk sexual
behaviors of children and youth as an integral part of their
public health campaign. As Sally Thigpen, Statewide Coordinator
of Stop It Now! Georgia remarks, “As a prevention organization
it just makes good sense to look at formative behaviors in
children, inform parents, families and communities about these
behaviors (from healthy to "uh-oh"), and offer options to
families that include family response, community response,
and systemic response.”
In each of the Stop It Now! sites, collaborations with key
organizations have provided training to a variety of professionals
who work with children. The City of Philadelphia contracts
with Stop It Now! Philadelphia to train city service providers
who are either case managers or social workers. Stop It Now!
Georgia is developing a training curriculum that will be piloted
with juvenile justice workers next year.
Stop It Now! Minnesota has partnered with the Minnesota Child
Care Resource and Referral Network and the Minnesota Department
of Human Services to respond to an increase in sexual abuse
cases in child care settings. As part of this collaboration,
in the fall of 2004 Now!’s Outreach and Education Coordinator
Ann Lindstrom developed a training that is now regularly delivered
to childcare professionals throughout the state. The workshop,
“How Understanding and Responding to Children’s Sexual Behaviors
Can Help Prevent Child Sexual Abuse,” highlights developmentally
expected sexual behaviors in children and adolescents and
coaches participants on how responding to these behaviors
can be a powerful tool in preventing the sexual abuse of a
child. These are just a sample of the efforts that Stop It
Now! sites are undertaking with professionals who work with
children.
Parents are also a key target audience for Now! educational
efforts. As part of their participation in the Prevent Institute,
staff from the Georgia, Minnesota, and the Stop It Now! national
office are working to develop guidelines on perpetration prevention
for parenting programs. The Philadelphia site program is also
independently developing parenting curricula. Projected outcomes
are likely to be three individual programs: 1) Parenting Sexually
Reactive Children, 2) Grand Parenting and Foster Parenting
Sexually Reactive Children, and 3) When Children Have Their
Own Children: a Primer for Potentially Sexually Abusive Behavior.
Site policy and research work also includes a focus on youth
with sexual behavior problems. Stop It Now! Georgia has held
focus groups with parents of youth in treatment for sexual
offenses and will incorporate this data in efforts to influence
policy at both the organizational (systems) and state levels.
Lastly, each site works with their sponsoring organizations
for wider incorporation of their prevention messages. Sally
observes that "PCA Georgia has chosen to concentrate its CSA
prevention resources in the Stop It Now! Georgia program -
specifically targeting messages to adults and communities
regarding primary prevention of the perpetration of child
sexual abuse."
For the Philadelphia and Minnesota sites, who are sponsored
by organizations that provide treatment to people with sexual
behavior problems, the prevention programs work in synergy
with their treatment of children, adolescents, and families.
Yvonne Cournoyer, Program Director of Stop It Now! Minnesota
notes: “We are able to use the work that Project Pathfinder
does in the adolescent program to really illustrate the need
for strong prevention efforts.” Michael Stinson, Program Director
for Stop It Now! Philadelphia reports that “These programs
enhance the holistic offering of the Joseph J Peters Institute
by providing alternative universal and selected intervention
programs to the indicated tertiary therapy already provided
by JJPI.”
Many
Paths to Prevention
By Peter Pollard, Director of Public Education, Stop It Now!
Oprah Winfrey’s campaign to round up fugitive
sex offenders deserves kudos for the quick arrest of two of
the FBI’s most wanted child sexual abusers. Holding abusers
accountable for the damage they inflict is crucial to the
healing of their victims. But by focusing on the heart-wrenching
stories of six young girls who were kidnapped and murdered
by strangers, Oprah Winfrey may unintentionally distract from
the fact that most child sexual abuse is committed by someone
the victim knows, and often loves.
Behind the focus on stranger assault is a sobering
and much more challenging reality. Of the estimated 500,000
children who are sexually assaulted each year, 90 percent
of them already know their abuser. Eighty-eight percent never
report the abuse to authorities. As many as half the incidents
of sexual abuse are committed by children against other, less
powerful children.
News reports of the horrible experiences of
Amber Hagerman, Carlie Brucia, Jessica Lunsford, Megan Kanka,
Polly Klass, and Samantha Runnion have shaped the belief that
kids are safer when they are taught to watch out for dangerous,
lurking strangers just out of sight. These crimes have inspired
a spate of laws increasing sentences and expanding community
notification about shadowy convicted sex offenders living
in our neighborhoods. Being aware of who’s in our children’s
environments certainly is an important part of sex-abuse prevention.
But much more often, the challenge lies even closer to home.
Ignorance, coupled with fear of an uncomfortable
conversation with someone we care about, puts children at
risk. Adults must learn the signs that suggest a child may
be vulnerable and muster the courage to challenge not just
strangers, but people they love, or even themselves. Ironically,
like most adults who sexually abuse children, both of the
men arrested from Winfrey’s list were known and trusted by
their victims. They weren’t strangers. For the vast majority
of child victims, the signs that abuse has occurred are far
less obvious than they were in the dramatic cases of Amber,
Carlie, Jessica, Megan, Polly, and Samantha. Most victims
of sexual abuse remain quietly living in their homes, often
with their abusers. They want the abuse to stop. But left
only with a choice between silence or a total family disruption,
victims, and even others who suspect abuse, usually choose
silence.
No one in society is free of the burden of prevention.
Each and every person needs the courage to confront the complicated
emotions that lead to silence. Adults must use the love and
trust they feel for a relative, friend, teacher, coach, or
member of the clergy to reach out and help that person who
may be abusing or at risk to abuse.
With knowledge, comes hope. Contrary to popular
belief, treatment can be very effective for many people who
abuse. The earlier the intervention, the more likely there
will be a positive outcome. When abusers are supported to
hold themselves accountable for the rest of their lives by
a firm but respectful community, sexual abuse can be stopped.
So we should join Oprah Winfrey in preventing
sexual abuse “with every breath.” But we’ve already failed
if a child’s been harmed. Sexual abuse is not inevitable.
It’s preventable. The effort has to start at home.
A
Message from Maxine Stein, CEO
The news has been filled lately with prominent individuals
coming forward to disclose personal incidences childhood abuse.
There are additional news stories regularly about communities
responding in a variety of ways—some by banning any registered
sex offender from their neighborhoods and towns, and others
by creating educational and advocacy programs in an effort
to help people begin to talk about one of the most difficult
subjects there is.
When it comes to the sexual abuse of children, silence isn’t
golden.
Much of Stop It Now!’s work for the past 13 years has been
about helping adults break their silence. Our national Helpline,
established in 1995, invites adults to call and talk about
behavior they are concerned about in themselves or others.
Our Dialogue Project brings together adult survivors of child
sexual abuse, family members who were witness to abuse, and
recovering abusers into one forum, speaking together publicly
about their experiences. Our educational brochures and pamphlets
coach adults in choosing the right times and the right words
when garnering their courage to speak up.
Stop It Now! has not been silent. Our supporters have not
been silent. Together, we are building a movement of innovative
prevention programs and policies that hold adults responsible
for the safety of children and provide hope and practical
tools to everyone affected by child sexual abuse. We want
to create a social climate that supports talking about child
sexual abuse and how we can and will stop it in our society.
Stop It Now! needs your support. Securing funding for our
prevention work is challenging. Our national organization
receives no government funding. We rely on private donors
like you to maintain our innovative work. Please give generously
to help us expand our reach. In the coming year, we want to
launch more extensive social marketing campaigns, revamp our
website (1.5 million hits over the past year—we need to touch
those people in the most highly effective way possible), and
involve more communities with our messages.
Your support can help us continue to provide hope and help
to everyone affected by child abuse. You can help us bring
resource materials and training to thousands of people - from
survivors and adult bystanders to professionals, people at
risk to abuse, and abusers themselves.
We believe that adults can and will step forward. When adults
take responsibility and initiative, we can act before a child
is harmed. Silence isn’t golden. We invite you to join us
in our campaign. If you have been a supporter in the past,
thank you. Please continue your part in this important work.
Child sexual abuse is not inevitable - it’s preventable.
Program News
New Site, New Affiliates
Stop It Now! Australia, a collaboration with Phoenix House
in Bundaberg, Queensland, is the newest site in the Stop It
Now! international network. Coordinator Kathy Prentice originally
became interested in Stop It Now! through a contact in the
United Kingdom. She connected with Stop It Now! in the US
and trained with Stop It Now! Minnesota in 2002. Phoenix House,
the sponsoring organization, provides comprehensive, integrated
services for a variety of populations including adult and
child survivors of sexual assault, children with sexualized
or sexually abusive behaviors, and adult males who want to
address abusive behaviors. The first steps of the new program
will be building a Stop It Now! Australia steering committee
and website.
Stateside, two new Helpline Affiliates are now operating.
Helpline Affiliates offer a way for collaboration on the Stop
It Now! Helpline by providing local sponsorship and resources
to the national Helpline. Local steering committees develop
guidelines for responding to local callers and collect information
on local resources so that national staff can respond more
fully to those callers.
In June, the Massachusetts Helpline launched in partnership
with the Massachusetts Coalition for Sex Offender Management
(MCSOM). MCSOM is a public-private partnership of criminal
justice, victim advocacy, child protection, treatment, prosecution,
and prevention agencies. The Stop It Now! Helpline in Massachusetts
complements the crucial work of existing Massachusetts hotlines,
agencies, and programs.
In October, the Virginia Department of Health (VDH) Center
for Injury and Violence Prevention launched its collaboration
with Stop It Now!. VDH is marking the launch with a new marketing
campaign including radio, billboard, and bus transit ads in
the Richmond area. The Virginia initiative is in response
to the 2001 Virginia Sexual Violence State Plan. Since the
development of the plan, a group of professionals involved
in sexual abuse prevention, prosecution, treatment, supervision,
victim advocacy, and child protection formed a steering committee
to provide guidance to VDH. The steering committee recommended
a Stop It Now! Helpline in Virginia and assisted in the implementation
process. To see their ads, go to www.vahealth.org/civp/sexualviolence.
Site News
GEORGIA
Statewide expansion of the Georgia program began on October
1st and expects to establish 7 regional clusters by October
2006. In her role as the new Program Specialist, Anna Curtis
will provide local program clusters with initial orientation
and training as well as ongoing technical assistance. Anna
brings incredible experience and expertise from her previous
work as the Advocacy Manager for the DeKalb County CASA program.
Stop It Now! Georgia is very excited to welcome Anna and for
the opportunity to build a statewide presence of primary prevention
of child sexual abuse.
MINNESOTA
Stop It Now! Minnesota recently completed an extensive research
project to better understand the behaviors of adults at risk
to abuse children. The study investigated what makes it harder
or easier to voluntarily come forward, seek treatment, be
accountable, and abstain from future abuse. This research
was used to develop an advertising campaign directed specifically
to the target audience as well as to make program adjustments,
including revising web site content. The print and radio ad
campaign launched in early November. To learn more about the
research or the see the ads, visit Minnesota’s web site at
www.stopitnow.org/mn.
PHILADELPHIA
The Philadelphia site is planning focus groups on the topic
of gender bias as it relates to child sexual abuse. The objective
is to better understand how men and women conceptualize the
affect of sexual abuse on children. Included will be qualitative
data collection on attitudes and beliefs about sexuality,
acceptable forms of sexual expression, the magnitude and residual
effects of sexual violence on children, and the social construction
of relationships between men, women and children. This research
expects to use a deeper understanding of gender to create
more effective community- based safety programs.
UNITED KINGDOM AND IRELAND
 Maxine
Stein, CEO of Stop It Now!, visited the Stop It Now! UK program
this summer. She had an opportunity to speak with the Chief
of Police in Surrey, the largest of the UK sites, and reported
an outstanding relationship between Now! and law enforcement.
She met with Tink Palmer, Coordinator of the Now! UK and Ireland
project. One of the highlights of the UK work is focusing
on Internet child pornography. In addition, they have a program
called Leisurewatch which trains adults working in public
places where children congregate about how to watch for behaviors
between adults and children that could indicate risk.
In the Public Eye
Now!'s prevention model got a strong vote of confidence at
this year’s annual conference of the Association for The Treatment
of Sexual Abusers (ATSA). The conference theme, “Battling
Sexual Abuse with Prevention and Treatment,” provided an opportunity
for Now! staff to make both pre-conference and breakout presentations.
Sarita Hudson, Peter Pollard, and Deborah
Donovan Rice from the Now! national office led a half-day,
pre-conference seminar titled “Expanding the Role of Clinicians
in Preventing Child Sexual Abuse.” They were joined by experts
Reshma Mahendra of the Centers for Disease Control,
Ted Glackman of the Joseph J. Peters Institute in Philadelphia,
Steve Sawyer of Project Pathfinder, and Patrick
Liddle from the Center for the Treatment of Problem Sexual
Behavior in Connecticut.
Later in the week, Sally Thigpen of Stop It Now! Georgia,
Bridget Reilly of Connecticut Sexual Assault Crisis
Services, Ted Glackman, and Sarita Hudson offered
a presentation titled “Primary Prevention.” They presented
three papers which detailed primary prevention models in various
communities.
Now! was repeatedly acknowledged for its groundbreaking work
by both plenary speakers and presenters in various breakout
sessions throughout the four days of the conference.
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