The National Plan to Prevent Child Sexual Abuse & Exploitation (2012)

Read the 2012 edition!

Read the Press Release!

Huntsville, Alabama: The National Coalition to Prevent Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation has released its new and updated National Plan to Prevent Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation. The National Plan provides practical steps that individuals, organizations, businesses and policymakers can implement to promote positive youth development and prevent child sexual abuse and exploitation.

“The National Plan helps explain why everyone has an active role in preventing child sexual abuse and exploitation,” says Deborah Callins, president of The National Coalition.

The National Plan explains the multiple areas of trauma associated with sexual abuse and exploitation as well as the frequency of child sexual abuse and exploitation and the economic impact, including increased health care and interdiction costs. The report shows that child sexual abuse and exploitation often happen in conjunction with other types of abuse and violence, [1] and can have long-term, psychological impacts. The National Plan identifies action steps in several key areas, including research, ending the public demand for sexual exploitation, increasing public awareness and collaborative practices and funding.

[1] Turner, Finkelhor, & Ormrod, 2010)

Excerpt from the Plan: All children deserve childhoods free from all manner of sexual abuse and exploitation, and equal opportunities to develop into adults capable of having healthy relationships. Without this safety, we put our future as a society at risk. Fortunately, when we focus on innovative programming and policies, such as those presented in this plan, we lay the foundation for children’s healthy growth and development and reduce the potential of child sexual abuse and exploitation occurring.

This National Plan defines the nature and scope of child sexual abuse and exploitation; acknowledges the need to build on the foundation of existing research, advocacy, and treatment; discusses the value of a National Plan; encourages the development of prevention-focused policy; and describes a range of actions that includes individual, community and policy-level strategies, to stop the demand for, and to prevent, child sexual abuse and exploitation.

The goal of this plan is to keep prevention of child sexual abuse and exploitation in the forefront of people’s thoughts, agendas, and policy discussions in such a powerful way that we ensure all children grow up safe and free from all forms of sexual harm. Further, child sexual abuse and the normalization of such abuse, and of exploitation for individual or commercial gain, will be socially, economically, politically, and spiritually unacceptable in all of our communities.

This National Plan was originally printed in 2008 . The current edition contains some updated references and examples.