Laying the Groundwork for Preventing Child Sexual Abuse

Sarah Pharr, Senior Consultant, held a conversation with Meghan Hurley Backofen—Mental Health Therapist, Author and Podcaster—around child sexual abuse prevention and how it relates to youth-serving organizations. They addressed the following on the call:

  • How to recognize when abuse has happened or is happening
  • How and why youth react in a certain way when abuse takes place
  • How to appropriately respond to an abuse allegation

We have gathered a few resources that we hope will be helpful as you create a culture of safety at your organization:

  • Who’s The Boss Of This Body: Meghan’s book is a great tool for caregivers to talk with their children about sexual abuse. If you have any younger children in your life, we recommend purchasing this book. It is available in both English and Spanish.
  • 10 Tips for Sexual Abuse Prevention: Meghan’s podcast explores 10 different tips all caregivers should know to protect children from sexual abuse. All of our staff listened to this podcast last year and learned a lot. You can stream this podcast on Apple Podcasts or online
  • Child Abuse Prevention Plan: Our sample Child Abuse Prevention Plan is a great tool for your leadership and Board of Directors to use in order to enact a written plan to manage programs and minimize the potential for an abuse incident to occur.