If you’re curious as to what the future of child abuse prevention looks like, allow me to offer some insight. From the 2024 Annual Envision Conference put on by Johns Hopkins University’s Moore Center for the Prevention of Child Sexual Abuse out of the Bloomberg School of Public Health.
The goal of the conference, titled, The Future of Prevention, was to “… gather experts to envision practical ways we can join together to strengthen resolve, enhance collaboration, and galvanize efforts to stop child sexual abuse.”
Conference attendees included speakers and individuals from diverse backgrounds such as researchers, child protection experts, advocates, funders, students, survivors, and more.
Having tuned in previously to virtual versions of the event, I was excited to attend the first live Envision Conference since Covid-19. Partnering with me in this adventure was Kimberly King, my fellow child safety author and educator.
A few months out from the conference, Kimberly came up with the excellent idea to propose to the Envision Conference team a panel made up of child safety authors. Facilitator Tracy Leonard of Darkness to Light titled our talk. We would discuss, “Prevention Through Children’s Books: An Author Discussion on How Books Can Facilitate Prevention Conversations Between Caregivers and Children.” Our team included Kimberly King, myself, Kristen Jenson, Shariea Shoatz, and Julie Federico.
But first, the Exhibit Hall
In the vendor area, the high energy leveI pleasantly surprised me. Though attendees numbered in the hundreds, not thousands, the excitement in the room felt more substantial than at similar events I’ve attended. During breaks, attendees strolled by tables asking about each exhibitor’s displays and materials.
In addition to selling and giving away lots of books, educational materials, and swag,
Our author group spoke with attendees about the issues we are passionate about:
- child safety
- body safety education
- parent and caregiver best practices
- child on child sexual abuse (aka COCSA)
- the problems that stem from pornography
- sibling sexual abuse (aka SSA)
- and more
As a survivor of child sexual abuse (aka CSA) myself—specifically, sibling sexual abuse—I was happy to distribute materials from the excellent organization, 5waves.org. This group does the work of “confronting and healing sibling sexual trauma.” For the record, many attendees—some employees of child advocacy centers (aka CACs)—shared that they are starting to see more cases of sibling sexual abuse.
Once everyone relocated to the main auditorium, we settled in to hear from a lineup of stellar speakers. First we were welcomed by Elizabeth Letourneau, PhD, Professor, Department of Mental Health, and Director of the Moore Center. Check out Letourneau’s excellent TED Talk, “Child sexual abuse is preventable not inevitable” here.
Next we heard from Dr. Stephen Moore and Mrs. Julia Moore, the generous founding donors of the Moore Center. After they spoke came a series of high-level talks, each taking a different angle on the issue of dealing with child abuse prevention.
Some of what was said from the stage about child abuse prevention surprised me.
- Adult sexual abuse of kids seems to be declining as child on child sexual abuse of kids is increasing (ie. in the UK and Australia).
- Most sexual abuse of children occurs in a residence, typically that of the victim or perpetrator.
- According to researcher David Finkelhohr, we’ve gotten some things wrong about child sexual abuse. For instance, dating sextortion is as problematic as the rampant international sextortion scam targeting teen boys.
Bonus content: To see Kimberly and I having a video chat about Dr. Finkelhohr’s take on sextortion, click here.
Dr. David Finklehohr went on to say:
“Teen desire to explore romance and sex online is a key unaddressed dynamic to online abuse. Teens want to confirm sexual desirability. They go to sites geared for sex and romance, exploring alternative sex and gender identities. They see the making and sharing of sexual images as an adventure. Teens are responding to adult grooming, yearning for affirmation, and wanting to be part of the action.” (Note: More on this topic in this blog post.).
Finklehohr emphasized, “Education that doesn’t address this context is likely to fail.”
After lunch, I was delighted to see Adrianne Simeone, executive director of The Mama Bear Effect, deliver her compelling talk, “Prevention Can’t Suceed Without Parents.” Her presentation was followed by a panel moderated by Rosalia Rivera, the founder of CONSENTparentingTM. On social media, I see the work of the Mama Bear Effect and Consent Parenting every day. These ladies, along with those on our author panel, do the daily work of educating the public on best practices for child abuse prevention.
Fun fact: The number of Instagram followers our author panel, Rosalia Rivera, and the MamaBearEffect reaches is 265,574 (as of 7-23-2024).
Soon after, it was time for our author panel:
“How Books Can Facilitate Prevention Conversations Between Caregivers and Children.”
During our panel discussion, we each introduced ourselves and answered the question, “Why did you write your book?” It was beautiful to hear each author’s personal reason for writing a child safety book.
In preparation for the conference, I’d read everyone’s books again and found myself very impressed with each one. To give you a feel for each author’s work, here’s:
An overview of each child safety book and its strength:
- Good Pictures, Bad Pictures: According to the author, Kristen Jenson, this title “porn-proofs” your child. This book is truly fantastic for teaching kids (and parents) what porn is, how it affects the brain, and what to do if they see sexually explicit images. If your kids are 8+, buy this book today.
- I Said No: This book is great because it is a comprehensive body safety education resource. The author, Kimberly King, is my child safety collaboration partner.
To buy a copy of Kimberly King’s best-selling child abuse prevention book, I Said No, contact me directly.
- Why? Because this book is currently undergoing a publishing refresh. That’s why I scooped up the remaining inventory of the most recent iteration. If you want a copy, I’ll mail you one at $12. That’s 40% off the retail price + $4 for shipping. And if you’re with an organization that wants 10 or more copies of the book, bulk prices are available.
- My Voice Is My Superpower: This book by Shariea Shoatz is unique because it shows a child disclosing sexual harm to her peers who then help her disclose to a safe adult. This book gets bonus points for beautiful illustrations.
- Some Parts Are Not for Touching: Julie Federico’s book is a great place to start the body safety conversation with a very young person. It’s short. And cute. Without a lot of words, Federico’s book communicates the very important “Swimsuit Rule.” No one should touch or look at the body parts your swimsuit covers.
- The Brave Knight: Robert Peters, the founder of the nonprofit Shield Task Force asked me to, “Write a book, which in a nonthreatening way, teaches kids what ‘grooming’ is, the process a sexual predator uses to gain the trust of a potential victim and their family. The story also teaches kids to speak up if something or someone in their life is making them uncomfortable. The Brave Knight is available on Amazon; however, you can buy signed copies on my website, or a cute book bundle of The Brave Knight + I Said No + fun swag.
Bonus book!
- Everyone Was Silent: A memoir: I’m sneaking this in here in case you haven’t read my new book yet. This memoir, which launched in spring 2024, chronicles my lived experience with sibling sexual abuse.
In the second day of conference presentations, the sessions from the stage continued to be informative and enlightening. With that said,
I found the work of the UK’s Lucy Faithfull Foundation particularly exciting.
Deborah Denis, Chief Executive of the Lucy Faithfull Foundation, spoke of a number of child abuse prevention projects the foundation is working on.
- The stopitnow.org.uk website includes a helpline, live chat, and email support for anyone with concerns about child sexual abuse.
- shorespace.org.uk: This website aims to to prevent harmful sexual behaviors among young people.
- Deterrence messaging: With this prevention effort, when an individual searches online for child sexual abuse material (aka CSAM), a pop-up informs them their search is problematic for a number of reasons. It’s illegal, it harms children, and it can lead to negative consequences for the searching individual and their family. In a trial campaign, deterrence messaging significantly reduced searches on PornHub.
Overall, what was:
The highlight of the conference for me? A girls’ night out for child abuse prevention pros. Plus one husband.
To foster community among our group, Kimberly King made dinner reservations for our author panel plus Kristen Jenson’s husband John, Adrienne Simone and her assistant Natalie, and Rosalia Rivera. We enjoyed a festive meal at China Chilcano, a Jose Andres restaurant (where I inhaled the best Brussels sprouts of my life).
After being seated, since much of what we do can feel really heavy, Julie Federico suggested our group not “talk shop.” Instead, we got to know one another via a trio of icebreaker questions provided by me.
- What’s bringing you joy right now?
- What’s currently challenging you?
- What’s a fun fact we don’t know about you?
Parting comments.
Once everyone returned home to their respective states, I asked our team if anyone had any post-conference comments.
Firstly, Kimberly King said, “For me, one of the highlights of this conference was the ability to connect with so many body safety educators and authors. I use many books besides my own when I train parents and educators on body safety. I find that each book in our group of authors is a little bit different. In addition, I feel like we all agree that the easiest way to start engaging families on the topic of child abuse prevention is reading books to kids, especially when they are kid-friendly and easy to use.
Secondly, Kristen Jenson of Defend Young Minds shared,
“I was impressed with the many smart people working on this problem!”
Jenson went on to say, “In private conversations, everyone I spoke to readily admitted that pornography fuels COCSA and is also an easy grooming tool that predators use on their victims. Educating children on how to recognize and report porn exposure is an essential part of body safety training. I’m grateful that my Good Pictures Bad Pictures books can play such a crucial role in safeguarding children against sexual abuse.”
In conclusion, while I very much value my 2024 Envision Conference experience with so many powerhouses from the child abuse prevention space,
