PROJECT OVERVIEW

Child sexual abuse is a crime that lives in silence in every community and in every state. Child sexual abuse is 100% preventable and there are things that we can all do to make that possibility a reality if we are willing.

The Richland County Pilot Project (RCPP) will develop and reinforce awareness messages and education strategies to enhance community engagement (across Richland County) and social movements that strengthen comprehensive child sexual abuse prevention education.

The vision is a widespread prevention education initiative within fully engaged communities across the county to prevent child sexual abuse.

Prior to the project launch, residents across Richland County were surveyed regarding their beliefs and attitudes relating to child sexual abuse. Here is what we learned:

• 25% of respondents don’t believe CSA to be an issue in Richland County.
  (One in 10 children in North Dakota will be sexually abused by their 18th birthday.)

• Beliefs that CSA occurs most often by strangers to the child.
  (90% of CSA occurs by someone the child knows.)

• Attitudes that children lie, often for attention, about child sexual abuse.
  (False disclosures are rare. Only 3-6% of disclosures are actually false.)

• Beliefs that CSA survivors almost always become abusers.
  (Less than 10% of people who sexually abuse children were sexually abused themselves.)

• Attitudes that children who have been victims of sexual abuse are at fault.
  (Children who are sexually abused are never at fault.)

WHY WAS THIS PROJECT IMPORTANT?

• Child sexual abuse is a vast public health problem.

• 1 in 4 girls and 1 in 13 boys experience child sexual abuse.

• 90% of children are abused by someone they know, love or trust.

• Child sexual abuse impacts Richland County