PARSOL fights for the rights and dignity of registered Pennsylvanians, advocating for the safety of all. While we disagree with many of the legislative measures undertaken by the General Assembly, one thing we do agree on is child sexual abuse (CSA) should never happen.
Pennsylvania psychotherapist Jennifer Weeks, Ph.D., LPC, CACD wrote in a recent blog post, “The most recent science about minor attraction suggests that the age of the people we are attracted to is influenced by our brain structures and, thus, not a choice. Many people who have this attraction also have NOT engaged in any behavior with a child as they realize that acting on their attraction is never appropriate.”
PARSOL has compiled a list of resources that looks at Child Sexual Abuse through the lens of a public health perspective and uses the most reliable empirical research. If you or someone you know may be struggling with minor attraction, these resources may be helpful.
B4U-Act
B4U-Act is an alliance of therapists, researchers, and MAPs, B4U-ACT’s mission is to promote a science-informed understanding of people in our communities with an attraction to children or adolescents, and to support them living in truth and dignity.
Stop It Now
Stop It Now! Prevents the sexual abuse of children by mobilizing adults, families, and communities through direct support, information, and resources to take actions that protect children before they are harmed.
Help Wanted
Help Wanted was developed by the faculty and staff at the Moore Center for the Prevention of Child Sexual Abuse, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Help Wanted is an online course to provide help to individuals attracted to younger children. Help Wanted’s goal is to provide tools to support persons attracted to minors in their commitment to living a safe, healthy, non-offending life.
Troubled Desire
Doctors at The Institute of Sexology and Sexual Medicine at Charite-Universitatsmedzin Berlin created this free, anonymous online course specifically for this purpose. The website provides an anonymous online self-management program for individuals who experience an attraction to children. The University acknowledged that there was a great need for services for individuals who could not find a suitable therapist near them.
The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Moore Center for the Prevention of Child Sexual Abuse
The Moore Center works to create change through our efforts in research, education, communication, advocacy, and policy. They work to change the way the world thinks about child sexual abuse, from inevitable to preventable. They work to change the way world thinks about prevention, to understand that perpetration prevention is a necessary element of a comprehensive approach to child sexual abuse. They work to grow the human and the capital resources necessary to continue and expand these efforts.
The Primary Prevention of Child Sexual Abuse
This site is dedicated to discussing facts, research, issues, concerns, and topics to aid the prevention of child sexual abuse before it harms a child. This involves many arenas that are not well-known to the average person, and it is a goal to make these arenas well-known and reduce the challenges to the primary prevention of child sexual abuse. Another goal is helping persons attracted to minors understand how to manage their attractions without hating themselves or viewing themselves as a risk.
Prevent Child Abuse America
Prevent Child Abuse America works to prevent child abuse and neglect before it happens. They create, interpret, and distribute research on new and existing child abuse prevention solutions and develop a wide range of valuable tools for parents and caregivers. They also advocate for change at the national, state, and local levels and raise awareness of supportive programs that help children and families in communities across the country.
Child Welfare Information Gateway
Child Welfare Information Gateway’s mission is to connect child welfare and related professionals to comprehensive resources to help children and strengthen families.
Child Sexual Abuse Primary Prevention Strategies: A Literature Review
The purpose of this report is to review the research support for child sexual abuse prevention strategies. It focuses on primary prevention strategies which, based on the Public Health Model of prevention, aim to prevent sexual abuse before it happens.
Darkness to Light
Darkness to Light uses a social behavior change approach to pioneer new training initiatives that bring child sexual abuse to the attention of the broader cultural conversation.
Prostasia Foundation
Protecting children from sexual abuse is a cause that everyone can unite behind. Often, however, the measures we take to combat child sexual abuse (CSA) are less effective than they should be, because they are driven by emotion rather than evidence. In striving to protect children from abuse, we may end up harming them and others. Prostasia Foundation addresses this problem by helping to fund sound scientific research on CSA prevention; engaging with diverse stakeholders whose voices are not normally heard; addressing the human rights impacts of child protection laws and policies; communicating the results of our research and engagement to policymakers, platforms, and the public.