A new school year brings new opportunities to protect children. Learn the signs, strengthen your response, and help bring prevention training to more adults.
A Safer School Year Starts With Prepared Adults
As children return to classrooms, sports, programs, and after-school activities, they will spend more time with trusted adults across their communities. Most of these experiences are positive, but child sexual abuse can happen in any community, and prevention cannot rest on children alone.
Adults need the knowledge and confidence to recognize concerning behaviors, reduce opportunities for abuse, and respond when a child needs help.
This back-to-school season, choose how you will take action:
A safer school year depends on more adults having access to the knowledge, tools, and training needed to protect children.
Your gift helps expand prevention education, provide practical resources, and equip individuals and organizations to take meaningful action before harm occurs.
Start with Awareness
A safer school year begins with adults who know what to look for and how to respond.
Download the checklist for practical reminders you can use and share with families, educators, staff, and volunteers.
Turn Awareness Into Action
A checklist is a starting point. Training helps adults build the knowledge, confidence, and practical skills to put prevention into action.
Stewards of Children® equips adults to prevent child sexual abuse, recognize warning signs, respond responsibly, and help create safer environments wherever children learn, play, and grow.
Ready to bring prevention training to your staff, volunteers, organization, or community? Connect with our Impact Team to explore the right training option for you.
Support Prevention
Help us reach our $1,500 back-to-school goal and equip more adults with the training, tools, and resources they need to protect children.
Every gift helps expand access to prevention education and build safer schools, organizations, and communities.
Resources for a Safer School Year
Start the Conversation with Your Child’s School
Not sure what to ask about your child’s school safety practices? These age-appropriate letter templates make it easier to start the conversation.
Choose the template that best fits your child’s age, select the questions most relevant to their school experience, and customize the language to make it your own. You don’t need to ask every question—the goal is simply to open a thoughtful conversation about supervision, boundaries, reporting practices, and the steps schools take to help protect children.
Choose a template: Preschool / Early Childhood • Elementary School • Middle & High School
Awareness
- The 5 Steps to Protecting Children™
A simple framework for learning the facts, minimizing opportunities, talking about safety, recognizing signs, and reacting responsibly. - Resources for Adults & Families
A central collection of practical guides for parents, caregivers, and youth-serving organizations. - Stewards of Children®
Darkness to Light’s flagship training on preventing, recognizing, and reacting responsibly to child sexual abuse.
Healthy Boundaries
- Talk to Kids About Body Safety and Boundaries
Practical guidance for starting age-appropriate conversations about body safety and personal boundaries. - Healthy Sexual Development Guide
Helps adults understand age-appropriate behaviors and support healthy conversations about bodies, privacy, and boundaries. - Safety in Seconds: Healthy Sexual Development
Short, accessible lessons for adults supporting children at different stages of development.
Safer Environments
- Tips for Selecting Youth-Serving Organizations
Questions adults can use when evaluating the policies and practices of schools, programs, teams, and other organizations. - Sample Code of Conduct
A customizable starting point for establishing expectations around supervision, touch, communication, digital interaction, and reporting. - Online Safety Guide
Practical guidance for creating safer digital environments for children.
Reacting Responsibly
- Identifying and Reporting
Learn the signs of possible abuse and what to do when a child discloses harm, or you have a reasonable suspicion that abuse may be occurring. - Responsible Reaction Guide
Explains how to intervene when boundaries are crossed, respond supportively to a disclosure, and make a report. - Mandatory Reporting Guide
Covers reasonable suspicion, information to provide, supportive responses, and reporting best practices.
Because what’s worth protecting is more than a school year—it’s a child’s safety, their voice, their trust, and the future they deserve.
Keep the Conversation Going
Protecting children takes more than awareness — it takes ongoing conversation, reflection, and shared learning.
Join us for our next Honest Conversation: Protecting Children in the Theater, where we’ll explore how adults can help create safer spaces for children in performing arts environments. Hear from theater professionals, parents, and experts as they share perspectives on prevention, responsibility, and what safer environments can look like in practice.
