First Witness’ comprehensive prevention strategy includes outreach to schools, families, and the community. Safe and Strong Child© is a sexual abuse prevention program for children from Pre-K to Grade 6, their teachers, and caregivers. First Witness offers Safe and Strong Communities presentations to organizations and groups across the northland. We provide training to adults in youth-serving agencies, churches, sports leagues, and beyond. Participants learn how to recognize, respond, and report child abuse. Safe and Strong bridges our community by building partnerships with schools, child-care centers, youth-serving agencies, hospitals, churches, and other community organizations. Together with our Child Abuse Prevention Coalition, we provide a powerful public education message encouraging society to recognize that child sexual abuse is both everyone’s problem and everyone’s responsibility.
Schools
First Witness CAC’s Safe and Strong Child© (SSC) program provides a body safety curriculum aligned with evidence-informed best practice standards outlined by the National Sexual Violence Research Center’s “Child Sexual Abuse Prevention Programs for Children” programming guidelines.
SSC consists of developmentally appropriate classroom lessons that are taught interactively through stories, role play, and song in a non-threatening environment. Children are taught to identify the difference between safe and unsafe touch. They learn how to set and honor personal body boundaries. Through SSC, children learn that it is never a child’s fault if they get an unsafe touch. Portions of the curriculum also provide support and education to teachers and parents who can help to keep kids safe.
Through developmentally appropriate curriculum, professional teacher and staff training, and parent/caregiver meetings, SSC provides a three-pronged approach to prevention education.
Families
Our family advocates provide prevention education to all families of children we serve. We offer sessions to parents/caregivers of children involved in our Safe and Strong Child© programming.
Community
First Witness CAC offers Safe and Strong Community presentations to organizations and groups across the northland. We provide training to adults in youth-serving agencies, churches, sports leagues, and beyond. Participants learn how to recognize, respond, and report child abuse. More than mandated reporting, we delve into dynamics of child abuse, how to respond to a child in a trauma-informed way, red flags of child abuse, child resilience, Safe and Strong Child© body safety curriculum, and more.
Prevention Resources
Head, Shoulders, Penis, Vulva: How Using Anatomical Names for Anatomical Parts Can Keep Children Safe
Teaching kids the anatomically correct words for all body parts is a way to prevent child sexual abuse. Click on the link to be rerouted…
Steve Fund Crisis Text Line
If you are a young person of color and are finding yourself needing to talk to a trained crisis counselor,…
Become an Askable Parent with AMAZE Podcast
Become an “Askable Parent” and learn how to navigate sometimes difficult and awkward conversations with your child. This podcast is for parents/caregivers with children of…