Vermont child safety programs to be studied

BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) - Child safety programs piloted in Vermont are being studied by two universities, thanks to a grant from the CDC.

Care for Kids and We Care Elementary are child sexual abuse prevention programs for kids grades K-6, as well as teachers and parents.

The programs are going to be implemented in 16 public and charter schools in Washington, D.C., and studied by researchers with Northeastern University and The University of Illinois at Chicago.

Prevent Child Abuse Vermont Executive Director Linda Johnson says these programs have proven successful, with substantiated cases in Vermont dropping more than 70% between 1992 and last year.

“They were looking for a well-regarded child sexual abuse prevention program and approach that had not had a rigorous scientific study but that had had a tremendous amount of field research, which we have. We have decades of it,” Johnson said.

The programs have already been adopted by some communities in other states.

Johnson says the results are going to be published in a peer-reviewed journal, which could lead to more people choosing these Vermont programs for their schools.

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