Reporting Child Abuse - What Can You Do

In addition to taking this training and reporting suspected child abuse, there are other things that you can do as an individual in your community to help fight child abuse.

Steps to take:

  • Talk about it: Parents, guardians, and caregivers can foster open communication with children, establish personal boundaries, help children identify adults they can trust, monitor children’s online usage, and be role models by promoting healthy relationships.
  • Engaging bystanders: Adults can talk about what they learn and instruct others how to intervene if they hear or see something that doesn’t seem appropriate. This method is commonly called the “bystander approach” and engages everyone in prevention efforts.
  • Work together: Adults can invite local rape crisis centers or child advocacy agencies to teach their churches or civic groups about prevention and encourage school districts to do the same.
  • Educate yourself and your community: Through education, people can more readily identify offender behaviors and be confident enough to report any suspicions they have to authorities. Below are resources for additional education or training opportunities.

Education and Resources:

  • Child Sexual Abuse Conference: Traumatic Impact, Prevention, and Intervention brings together nationally recognized experts. The conference raises awareness, educates, energizes, and empowers us to move forward to better protect our children. Access Archived Videos and Handouts from the 2012 Protect Children Conference.
  • Stewards of Children: is a prevention-training program that teaches adults how to prevent, recognize, and react responsibly to child sexual abuse. The program is designed for organizations that serve youth and for individuals concerned about the safety of children. It is the only nationally distributed, evidence-based program proven to increase knowledge, improve attitudes, and change child protective behaviors.
  • HERO Project: Child sexual abuse is preventable and adults everywhere have the responsibility to report suspicions of child sexual abuse to the authorities. If you aren’t sure what to do and would like to talk to a specifically trained sexual assault counselor you can contact the HERO Hotline at 1-877-874-HERO (4376). The HERO Hotline was launched statewide by PCAR to encourage adults in our communities to intervene and report suspicions of child sexual abuse.
  • Visit the National Sexual Violence Resource Center and the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape for more information. Additional information can be found with the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study, which analyzes the relationship between categories of childhood trauma and health/behavioral outcomes later in life.