Our Training Tool
The Stewards of Children program
Our services are based on providing training and workshops. We run a number of programs to cater for community education and professional education. All workshops are based on Stewards of Children developed in the USA and incorporating training relevant to the Australian context.
Stewards of Children: A new international approach
In 1997 a small group of professionals in South Carolina, USA, established an organisation in response to escalating child sexual abuse statistics. The primary focus of the organisation, Darkness to Light, is the prevention of child sexual abuse.
The organisation's goals are encapsulated in the child abuse prevention program it has developed in collaboration with experts such as internationally recognised researcher, David Finkelhor, called Stewards of Children.
These aims are:
- To shift the responsibility for preventing child sexual abuse from children to adults;
- To reduce child sexual abuse through education and public awareness aimed at adults;
- To provide adults with information to prevent, recognise and react responsibly to child sexual abuse.
About the Stewards of Children
The core philosophy of the Stewards of Children program is that adults must be wholly responsible for preventing child sexual abuse.
Stewards of Children is a packaged prevention program that utilises a 7-step approach to educate adults to recognise, prevent and respond responsibly to child sexual abuse. It aims to acknowledge the concerns and potential fears that adults might experience around child sexual abuse while educating them in the realities of the abuse.
The two and a half hour training program uses an interactive workbook that is used in conjunction with a DVD. The DVD features personal stories of child sexual abuse told by survivors, and training by professionals.
Benefits of Stewards of Children
- It's cost effective - Organizations can utilise the train-the-trainer model, so one person can train everyone in their organisation or community.
- It's time effective - The program takes only 2.5 hours to complete.
- It's proven to work - The program has been independently audited and evaluated by the University of Charleston, South Carolina. It has been known to increase knowledge, change attitudes and improve the protective behaviors of adults towards children.
- It reduces an organisation's risk of being sued or exposed to claims of negligence.
Who can use Stewards of Children?
Stewards of Children is designed for all organizations that provide services to children and young people. Such as:
- Schools, Pre-schools
- Childcare Providers, OSHC Providers
- Religious Organizations Sports Clubs, Youth Groups (i.e. Scouts, Brownies etc)
- Healthcare professionals
- Organizations that work towards preventing child abuse and neglect
- Government Organizations (e.g. Local Councils)
But it's not just for organizations
Mums, Dads, Brothers, Sisters, Aunties, Uncles and anyone who knows children and is interested in keeping them safe from sexual abuse.