[1]

April 2025

Outdoor Public Awareness Campaign Calls on Everyone to “[2]Pledge to
Prevent[3]” Child Sexual Abuse

[4]You can Prevent Child Sexual Abuse. Learn How, PledgetoPrevent.info

The Pledge to Prevent® is a unique online action campaign to prevent child
sexual abuse. Its goal is to harness the public’s keen awareness about the
problem and provide thousands of individuals around the world with the
education they need to then take concrete, practical actions to prevent it
in their homes and communities. Pledgers choose from among the 24 pledges
described under the various categories:
* Learner (I want to educate myself about the issue.)
* Prevention Influencer (I want to share what I know.)
* Safe Community Promoter (I want to engage my school or youth
organization in prevention actions.) or
* Movement Builder (I want my legislator to champion prevention laws and
policies.)

After taking a pledge, pledgers immediately receive an email with links to
over 30 resources that will educate them about how to carry out their
specific pledge.

Enough Abuse® and [5]END1IN4, Inc., Coordinating Partners for the [6]Pledge
to Prevent[7]® are promoting the Pledge through an outdoor public awareness
campaign in 10 Boston MBTA stations, in Franklin County, MA, and in
Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach, FL counties. This campaign was
previously featured in New York City’s Times Square.

The ads are appearing throughout the month of April—National Child Abuse
Prevention Month. A social media toolkit is available so individuals and
organizations can promote it with their networks.

[8]social media toolkit

Currently, individuals who have taken the Pledge to Prevent® come from
nearly every U.S. state and several countries, including Sierra Leone,
Nigeria, Zambia, Liberia, India, etc.

Preventing Child Sexual Abuse in Massachusetts Schools

[9]Safety STARS

Enough Abuse® is currently providing expert technical assistance around
child sexual abuse prevention policies and training to school districts in
several MA counties. Through our Safety S.T.A.R.S. program, we work with
school leaders to improve:

Screening of prospective school employees for histories of sexual
misconduct.

Training of staff and volunteers about how to prevent child sexual abuse;

Assessment of the school's child safety and protection policies;

Responses to boundary violating behaviors by school staff;

Securing of physical spaces to reduce opportunities for abuse to occur.

Read more about this program and the abuse prevention policy resources
available to schools here: [10]Safety S.T.A.R.S.

"Enough! Preventing Child Sexual Abuse in My School"

[11]children holding their hands up with Enough! Preventing Child Sexual
Abuse in My School written below

Enough Abuse® provides child sexual abuse prevention training to school
staff members through our 1-hour online course, [12]"Enough! Preventing
Child Sexual Abuse in My School!" “Enough!” is the most comprehensive
training course available in the U.S. developed exclusively to meet the
specific needs of public and private schools, and to address the challenges
they face in preventing child sexual abuse and educator sexual
misconduct. Over 13,000 employees in 171 schools in nine states have
completed the course to date. School administrators can [13]email us to
take the course for free as a preview.

A similar one-hour course for youth-serving organizations is also
available. [14]Click here to learn more and request a preview.

Does Your State Criminalize AI-Generated Child Sexual Abuse Material (aka
child pornography)?

[15]Map of the USA with 37 states in Blue

[16]Research by Enough Abuse® has documented that 38 states have enacted
laws that criminalize AI-generated or computer-edited child sexual abuse
material (CSAM). 12 states and D.C. have not updated their CSAM laws to
reflect the latest technology used to exploit children. Massachusetts is
among them. However, Enough Abuse® worked with Senator Paul Mark and
Representative Natalie Blais to draft the most comprehensive language
possible. [17]S.1174/[18]H.1593 have been filed this session.

The blue states in the map above have enacted these laws, more than half in
2024 alone. This reflects strong concern by legislators and advocates about
the significant increase in the production, possession and distribution of
CSAM that uses technology to victimize real children. [19]The National
Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) has received more than
7,000 reports of CSAM involving generative AI technology in the past two
years, and these numbers are expected to grow.

AI or computer-generated CSAM poses many dangers to children:
* Perpetrators can now generate, alter or collage depictions of children
that are indistinguishable from depictions of real children.
* They can use parts of images of real children to create a composite
image that is unidentifiable as a particular child, and in a way that
prevents even an expert from concluding that parts of images of real
children were used.
* Artificially-generated or computer-edited CSAM further re-victimizes
actual child victims, as their images are collected from the Internet and
studied by artificial intelligence tools to create new images.
* Child predators can also use artificially-generated or computer-edited
CSAM to extort minors and their families for financial gain.

Check out your state's CSAM law. Visit our [20]new interactive map.

Pass the Prevention Package in Massachusetts!

As you may have read in our recent [21]legislation alert, several child
sexual abuse-related bills have been filed in Massachusetts and Enough
Abuse® is working closely with legislators, advocates and survivors to
ensure these bills make it to the finish line this year. For the latest
summary of the prevention bills, [22]c[23]lick here[24]. For a flyer that
highlights the specific school-related "Prevention Package" bills,
[25]c[26]lick here. To read press coverage related to our legislative
advocacy work, [27]visit our Press Page.

Does Your State Criminalize Sexual Abuse by School Employees?

Prosecutors in several Massachusetts counties are finding that state does
not allow them to prosecute individuals in positions of authority,
including school employees, who groom and coerce students over the age of
16 into sexual relationships. A key area of our "Prevention Package" in
Massachusetts is the effort to close this "age of consent loophole". Does
your state share this loophole? Our research shows that 39 States and D.C.
have passed laws to criminalize sexual abuse by school employees or adults
in positions of authority. Visit our [28]Criminalizing Educator Sexual
Misconduct/Abuse map to learn more and see whether your state has this law.

Join the States Policy Exchange to Advocate for Legislation

Answered "No" to either of the legislation questions above? Consider
joining our virtual advocacy group, the [29]States Policy Exchange. This
online information-sharing and peer support platform helps child advocates
and legislators to advocate for prevention policies and laws in their
states. Visit the [30]States Policy Exchange webpage to see past meeting
recordings and notes, and [31]email us[32] if you'd like to join.

We couldn't do this without you!

[33]children smiling

Your generous donation will help us continue our unique work providing
expert technical assistance, support and training to school districts to
prevent future cases of child sexual abuse. We are an outcome-driven, no
frills organization. Every dollar raised is used to make the greatest
impact for children.

[34]Donate

Sincerely,

Jetta Bernier, Executive Director

ENOUGH ABUSE®, formerly Massachusetts Citizens for Children, dba MassKids,
is the nation’s oldest citizen-based child advocacy organization, with a
6-decade history of improving the lives of vulnerable children. We prevent
the sexual abuse of children in their homes, communities and online through
prevention trainings, education and advocacy.

Contact ENOUGH ABUSE®
[35]Facebook [36]X [37]Instagram [38]LinkedIn

[39]www.enoughabuse.org - [40][email protected] - [41](617) 742-8555

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