Understand the Issue
Child sexual abuse is a serious issue, but it can be prevented. It is crucial to prevent child sexual abuse before it ever happens. When we do, kids have the opportunity to grow up happy, healthy, and safe.
All adults — not just parents and caregivers — are responsible for creating and sustaining safe, stable, nurturing relationships and environments where children can grow up healthy and reach their full potential.
We know that it is possible to prevent child sexual abuse, and we know which strategies and solutions are effective. When these prevention strategies are embedded into policies and programs at every level of society, we create the conditions for all kids to grow up happy, healthy, and safe.
There are many simple, effective strategies adults can use to protect children from child sexual abuse, like:
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Modeling healthy touch and safe, respectful ways to interact with children.
Why model healthy interactions?
Healthy affection and touch is protective from child sexual abuse especially with parents, caregivers and family members.
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Reducing situations in which child sexual abuse can occur.
Why reduce these situations?
Adults have a responsibility to reduce one on one opportunities and situations when sexual abuse can occur.
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Teaching children anatomically correct terms.
Why teach children these terms?
This promotes positive body image, self-confidence, and parent-child communication; discourages abusers; and, in the event of abuse, helps children and adults navigate the disclosure and forensic interview process.
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Recognizing signs of child sexual abuse in order to intervene and react responsibly.
Why learn when and how to intervene?
Understanding the signs and behaviors of children or teens, as well as adults, is an important part of prevention, but it isn’t the only thing all adults need to know to create safe communities for children to grow up free from child sexual abuse.
Facts About the Problem of Child Sexual Abuse in Colorado Today
National experts estimate that one in 10 children will be sexually abused before the age of 18.1
90% of children who experience sexual abuse know their abuser.2
Child sexual abuse is a serious issue that must be addressed as a core element of child safety and family well-being.
The impact of trauma at a young age can last a lifetime.
Imagine a disease that affected one in 10 U.S. citizens, a disease associated not only wit himmediate trauma, but also with a wide array of long-term consequences, including:
- substance abuse, depression, and suicide
- hypertension, heart problems, stroke, and cancer
- behavioral, psychological, and chronic physical problems4
The financial burden of child sexual abuse is also substantial. The lifetime economic burden of child sexual abuse in the United States is estimated to increase by approximately $9.3 billion each year, which includes health care costs, productivity losses, child welfare costs, violence/crime costs, special education costs, and suicide death costs.5
Communities keep children safe. Help Colorado reach the tipping point.
If enough adults in a community learn how to prevent child sexual abuse, then together, we can create a new standard of child safety in your community and throughout Colorado.
Learning how to prevent child sexual abuse can sound intimidating, but we’ve made it easy to get started. Our live, interactive online trainings will equip and empower you to create safe spaces where children can thrive.
Go Beyond the Trainings
Training adults on their collective responsibility to promote healthy child development is just one of the four recommendations identified in Creating a Colorado Where Children Grow Up Free From Sexual Abuse: An Issue Brief on the Prevention of Child Sexual Abuse in Colorado. Read the full issue brief to learn about the other recommendations.
Citations
1. Townsend, C., Rheingold, A., Haviland, M.L. (2016). Estimating a child sexual abuse prevalence rate for practitioners: An updated review of child sexual abuse prevalence studies. Charleston SC: Darkness to Light. Retrieved from www.D2L.org/1in10.
2. Finkelhor, D. & Shattuck, A. (2012). Characteristics of crimes against juveniles. Durham, NH: Crimes Against Children Research Center.
3. Colorado Department of Human Services (2025). Count of Maltreatment Allegations by Maltreatment Type [Data set]. Colorado Department of Human Services. https://colorado.rom.socwel.ku.edu/reports/244
4. Townsend, C. (2013). Prevalence and consequences of child sexual abuse compared with other childhood experiences. Charleston, S.C., Darkness to Light. Retrieved from www.D2L.org
5. Letourneau, E. J., Brown, D. S., Fang, X., Hassan, A., & Mercy, J. A. (2018). The economic burden of child sexual abuse in the United States. Child Abuse & Neglect, 79, 413–422. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2018.02.020