Joy Kitchell, who runs a child advocacy center in Bennington, Vt., teaches the curriculum distributed by Johnson's organization.

That may sound like a scary topic, but this curriculum takes a positive approach by focusing on healthy relationships: How to pay attention to your feelings, knowing about your body and your boundaries, and, if something doesn't feel right, knowing you can ask for help. It's a series of age-appropriate lessons designed to help protect little kids from sexual abuse.

Linda Johnson, the executive director of Prevent Child Abuse Vermont, strongly encourages schools to adopt the evidence-based model that her organization has been using since the 1990s. But she knows Wyoming's strong culture of local control makes that hard.Įducation How Schools Can Reduce Sexual Violence 'Wyoming is at a stage of what we call denial or resistance that the issue even exists in the first place,' Sanborn says.Įventually, she'd like to see something in place to guarantee schools are teaching prevention statewide. Jody Sanborn, the prevention specialist for the Wyoming Coalition Against Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault, wants all Wyoming communities to work to keep kids safe from sexual abuse. Vermont is a testing ground for states like Wyoming, which is one of nine other states that allow or recommend this type of education, but don't require it. Additionally, all schools and childcare facilities are required to train teachers and adult employees. Schools must also provide information to parents. K-12 schools in Vermont are required to provide sexual violence prevention to all students. In 2009, Vermont became one of the first. Many states are trying to curb those numbers - 20 now require sexual abuse prevention education by law.

More than 58,000 children were sexually abused in the U.S.

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