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Become a Partner in Prevention

Organizations and businesses have a responsibility to create safe environments for children.

A Partner in Prevention is an organization or business that commits the time and effort to educate themselves on preventing, recognizing, and reacting responsibly to child sexual abuse. An organization receives the yearly Darkness to Light Partner in Prevention distinction when they have successfully met three requirements, which include:

1. Training over 90% of staff and volunteers in Stewards of Children®

2. Conducting routine background checks on staff and volunteers who work with youth

3. Implementing organization-wide policies and procedures to increase child abuse prevention behaviors, including a policy that limits opportunities for one adult to be alone with one child

What Is The Advantage Of Being A Partner In Prevention?

• Organizations that emphasize prevention through training and appropriate policies discourage perpetrators

• Staff and volunteers gain greater awareness of opportunities where abuse could occur in their environment, as well as the skills to correct any issue

• Staff and volunteers are able to spot signs that a child is/has been abused  and intervene

• Staff and volunteers are empowered to react responsibly to abuse through suspicion, discovery, or disclosure

• Children are protected because the organization provides a safe environment for them

 What Is Stewards Of Children®?

Stewards of Children® is an evidence-informed, award-winning two-and-a-half-hour training that teaches adults to prevent,recognize, and react responsibly to child sexual abuse. Through interviews with a very diverse group of people with lived experience, experts, and treatment providers, Stewards of Children® teaches adults practical actions they can take to reduce instances of child sexual abuse in their organizations, families, and communities.

What Sets Stewards Of Children® Apart?

Stewards of Children® is one of the only evidence-informed, adult-focused child sexual abuse prevention training in the United States proven to increase knowledge and change behavior. 

• A CDC-funded study conducted by the National Crime Victims Research Center found that Darkness to Light’s training changes and strengthens
  adult child-protective behaviors. Furthermore, Dr. Elizabeth Letourneau of John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health compiled data suggesting citizens trained in the Stewards of Children® program report previously unrecognized abuse at a higher rate than in other communities.  
• Evaluations by The Ford Family Foundation and the University of Oregon showed that Stewards of Children® had an impact on participant organizations and improved relationships with other organizations while increasing awareness about the problem of child sexual abuse overall and resources available to combat child sexual abuse.  
• Another study conducted in Texas found educators trained using the Stewards of Children® program increased their reporting of previously unrecognized abuse by 82% in the year following the training. This means that without the training, a large portion of instances of abuse would have gone unrecognized and unreported. The training works and children are safer from sexual abuse as a result.