The National Plan to Prevent
Child Sexual Abuse & Exploitation

Prevent Together has developed a National Plan to Prevent Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation to provide a framework for effective, comprehensive, and holistic prevention interventions that are culturally sensitive, include survivor and marginalized voices, strengthen child-friendly environments for collective impact, and act as a catalyst for social change for protecting children from abuse.

The National Plan identifies Six Pillars for prevention, including Advocacy & Policy, Awareness & Education, Collaborative Practices, Funding & Capacity, Organizational Policies & Practices, and Research. 

Prevent Together acknowledges that our call to end the silence towards child sexual abuse rings hollow if we do not also call to end the silence toward racial injustice. Diversity, equity, and inclusion must inform all focus areas of prevention strategy because it has been historically minimized. To this end, the Plan also incorporates the following guiding principles:

• Prevention strategies should be inclusive, intersectional, and multi-disciplinary. Research must include marginalized and underrepresented groups using an intersectional lens that addresses cultural sensitivity (knowledge) and cultural competence (behavior).  
• The voices of everyone, and specifically those with lived experiences of sexual abuse and those who have perpetrated sexual abuse and/or exploitation are critical to the success of prevention.
• Prevention strategies and research are constantly evolving and must be informed by those with lived experiences, advocates, practitioners, and subject matter experts.

The goals of the National Plan are to keep the 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. And further, to ensure that 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.