Preventing Child Sexual Abuse in Youth and Family Serving Organizations

Learn about the nature and scope of child sexual abuse, boundary-violating behaviors that, if not addressed, can escalate to illegal offenses; the impact of child sexual abuse on children’s learning, social-emotional development, and health/mental health; how to handle of disclosures from youth; and the legal obligations of youth and family serving organizations to report suspected or disclosed cases. Objectives:  1.  Learn about the nature and scope of child sexual abuse and the behaviors that might indicate that an adult poses a sexual risk to a child or that a child might be a victim. 2. Learn about boundary-violating behaviors that can be precursors to sexual abuse, and how professionals can prevent child sexual abuse by identifying and responding to these behaviors.  3. Learn about how to respond appropriately to disclosures by youth and will learn about the fears and biases that often undermine the reporting of suspected cases by youth serving organization personnel. Levels: Beginner Tracks:  All tracks HUD Category:  Crisis Prevention and Intervention (Additional Recommended Training Areas), Family-Housing -Child Abuse Presenter: Jetta Bernier Jetta Bernier is Executive Director of MassKids, a 60-year-old child advocacy organization where she directs Enough Abuse, a community mobilization and citizen education initiative to prevent child sexual abuse adopted in several states and in two other countries. Developed in 2003 under a 5-year grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention - CDC, Enough Abuse has been recognized by federal officials as “…a trailblazing effort to prevent child sexual abuse by building a movement of concerned citizens, community by community.”   Jetta is author of "Sexual Abuse Safe Child Standards," a policy guide for schools and youth organizations and the soon-to-be released “Child Sexual Abuse Prevention Legislation in 50 States: A Resource for Policymakers and Advocates.”  She is the developer of several prevention  tools including"Enough!, a 1-hour e-learning course for schools selected by the U.S. Department of Justice for inclusion in its national repository of effective crime prevention programs and "Pledge to Prevent™, a unique online action campaign that engages citizens to take specific achievable actions to prevent child sexual abuse.    She served on the 11-member National Task Force on Educator Sexual Misconduct, which released recommendations for the country’s 1,500 independent schools. She currently co-chairs the Policy Committee of the National Coalition to Prevent Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation, and provides highly evaluated trainings across the country for child and family-serving professionals. Certificates will be issued following completion of the feedback form/session test which will be sent to you following the webinar via email. Note - this is a NERSC CEU. We have applied for MA - NASW CEUs. Payment, Cancellation  & Refunds:  All webinars require payment via credit card at the time of registration.  You will receive a confirmation and receipt.  If needed, then you can provide these to your organization for reimbursement. Attendees can cancel up until 2 days prior to the start of the webinar for a $30 refund.  The $5 cancellation fee is to cover event and credit card processing fees.   NERSC Webinars supported by CHFA, VHFA, Maine Housing, MassHousing, Rhode Island Housing and New Hampshire Housing.