"What We Needed": What impacted communities need to end child-on-child sexual harm (a California pilot)
Develop a pilot program in California called What we Needed to help us better understand the uniqueness of child-on-child sexual harm, including its roots and solutions to prevent it from happening in the first place. Information gathered from listening sessions will be used to create model policy and recommendations that will be presented to state and federal entities. An advocate action plan will aid other states seeking similar action.
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Communities
Adolescents and young adults with sexual attraction to children Children with sexual behavior problems Survivors -
Products
Research: What we Needed: A Survey on what impacted communities needed to end child-on-child sexual harm Contact Impact Justice
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System
Criminal justice Therapeutic/mental health -
Level
National State -
Asset PDF
Strategies
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Strengthen Policies
Wisdom and narratives collected from participants created model policy and recommendations for state and federal lawmakers as they worked to repeal youth registration laws. This knowledge will be used to aid other states seeking similar action.
In 2018, CYRR worked with the California Sex Offender Management Board (CASOMB) on reform for youth who committed sex offenses. The Board wrote a lengthy recommendation that was presented in March 2019 to Govenor Newsom that no child in California (who commits a sex offense under age 18) shouild be placed on the registry in Califronia. Additionally, the National Council of Family & Juvenile Court Judges issues a similar resolution against placing children on registeries (released April 2019).
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Enhance Partnerships
Workplan collaboration with Research & Action Center (RAC), engaging with law enforcement, child welfare, and legislators.
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Learning Circles
Presented these recommendations and information from the listening sessions to the State Legislature, State Sex Offender Management Board, and Federal Government via briefings and conversations.
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Provide Resources
The report, What we Needed: A Survey on what impacted communities needed to end child-on-child sexual harm, will help guide others working on registration reform. The project's initial focus on registration reform has been expanded to transformative and upstream work to end child sexual harm through this project.
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Measure Impact
Listening session data was used to develop a therapeutic (not-traumatizing) questionnaire that can elicit deep personal stories from survivors, perpetrators, and family members around the time of the abuse.