How Mary Lost Her Lamb: Rethinking Child Sexual Abuse Prevention in Early Childhood

This workshop explores the overlooked and unspoken realities of child sexual abuse in early childhood. This includes child-on-child sexual abuse, grooming in early childhood, misconceptions about risk and innocence, and the challenges of identifying sexual abuse in young children. Participants will examine their own biases in sexual abuse, sexuality education, and sexual abuse prevention. This includes confronting the reality that sexual abuse most often occurs outside of the traditional “stranger danger” narrative. Using case examples and hands-on activities, participants will rethink CSA in early childhood and how to approach prevention through a shared responsibility rather than a reactive response. Participants will learn to identify developmental and behavioral grey areas as well as social and environmental factors that increase risk. Participants will walk away with practical, prevention-focused strategies that can be utilized across settings (i.e., law enforcement, education, community mental health, family service agencies).