Darkness to Light is a leader in child sexual abuse prevention and uses the power of behavior change to protect children.

Darkness to Light utilizes a Social Behavior Change framework to guide our work in preventing child sexual abuse. Social Behavior Change is a proven approach for enabling changes at individual, community, and societal levels to improve health and overall well-being.

A Social Behavior Change (SBC) Approach informs Darkness to Light’s evidence-informed theory of change, The Prevention Paradigm for Child Sexual Abuse. In this new prevention paradigm, adults throughout society actively prevent child sexual abuse within their spheres of influence. Our work targets four main audiences; Adults with Political Power and Social influence, Adults in the Community, Adults in Youth Serving Organizations, and Adults in Family.

More than just increasing adults’ awareness of child sexual abuse and the risks, an SBC intervention first identifies the specific audiences to target at various societal levels and then addresses the range of individual and social factors influencing their willingness and ability to take action to prevent child sexual abuse.

Darkness to Lights focuses on three areas of support to achieve the Prevention Paradigm:

  1. Comprehensive Prevention Programming
  2. Advocacy for Stakeholder Engagement and Ownership
  3. Training to Improve Awareness and Skills Among Adults