By: Corinne Smith, Alaska Beacon

Content warning: This story contains references to sexual violence and abuse of children.

A new statewide initiative aims to prevent and reduce Alaska’s pervasively high rates of child sexual abuse.

The statewide prevention plan is led by the Alaska Children’s Trust, a non-profit advocacy group focused on supporting children and families and preventing child abuse and neglect. 

Trevor Storrs, the president and CEO of the Alaska Children’s Trust, said a coordinated effort among state and community groups, service providers, schools, caregivers and youth is needed to make serious strides in intervening and preventing abuse. 

“We should not expect children to fight off these predators. We want them equipped with the tools, but it’s our job, not just as adults, but as a community and society, to make sure kids are safe,” he said. 

If you or someone you know has experienced sexual abuse or are healing from a crisis, resources are available: 

• STAR Alaska Crisis Line: Confidential 24/7 (800) 478-8999
• The StrongHearts Native Helpline: Confidential 24/7 confidential helpline for Native Americans and Alaska Natives dealing with domestic and sexual violence. Call 1-844-762-8483 or use the chat feature. 
• Child sexual abuse prevention resources provided by the Alaska Children’s Trust can be found here.
• AWARE’s list of resources, including housing, medical and financial resources
• Legal help through Alaska Legal Services Corp.

The plan was developed last year with a variety of statewide groups, including representatives from Child Advocacy Centers, the Alaska Department of Education and Early Development, the Office of Children’s Services, which runs the state’s foster care system, law enforcement, Tribes, health care providers, lived experience experts, faith communities, and the Alaska Network on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault. 

Storrs said the plan focuses on education and raising awareness, as well as preventing harm by developing and strengthening institutions so that questionable behavior is identified and stopped. 

“If we don’t keep strong boundaries established, that’s when we start opening the door and predators see their opportunity,” he said. “If we keep those strong and not have those potential openings, it actually prevents the predators from ever accessing, or anybody who’s had even a slight inclination —  they’re not being tempted to even try — and that is what our job is.”

The group launched the plan earlier this month and is providing an initial $100,000 in grant funding for prevention work in the three priority areas outlined by the initiative. Nonprofit organizations, tribes, local or state governments, schools and regional attendance areas are invited to apply by July 17. 

Alaska has some of the highest rates of sexual violence and rates of child abuse, neglect, and child sexual abuse, in the nation. Many victims delay or never report abuse. A U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Child Maltreatment report published this year noted reports of child abuse and neglect have declined somewhat since 2020, but Alaska rates in 2024 were 80% above the nationwide average.

Nationwide, American Indian and Alaska Native children have the highest rates of victimization, and in Alaska national data from the maltreatment report shows rates of abuse among American Indian or Alaska Native children are nearly three times higher than the overall statewide average.

The Alaska Children’s Trust cites a national survey by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from 2013 to 2015 that showed on average one in five Alaska children experience sexual abuse. A 2023 report from the Alaska Children’s Justice Act Task Force showed that an estimated one in seven children will experience an allegation of sexual abuse before their 12th birthday.

“The majority of child abuse and neglect cases that are substantiated are neglect, then it’s physical, and then it’s a small fraction of child sexual abuse,” Storrs said. But sexual abuse can have severe impacts on a child’s development, according to the CDC, with short and long term effects, including chronic health conditions, mental health issues and even post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD. 

Child sexual abuse is defined as any sexual activity between a child and adult or a child and another child that the child does not fully understand, does not consent to or is not developmentally prepared for and therefore cannot consent to. In Alaska, lawmakers this year changed the law to raise the age of consent to 18 years old.  

An estimated 90% of child sexual abuse is perpetrated by someone known to the child or the child’s family, according to the CDC. 

Perpetrators can exploit what Storrs calls “natural trust” to get close to a child, including people in positions like a coach, teacher, religious leader or friend of the family, in a pattern of behavior called grooming.

“Grooming is developing that relationship, developing a trust with the family that the child can be left alone with them,” Storrs said. “The trust with the child where their interactions may feel awkward, but are okay. The trust that it’s okay to keep secrets. They really build that trust and build that relationship that then allows them to abuse the child, to do what they do. And you see that in story after story when you talk to a survivor of child sexual abuse, they talk about the relationship.” 

Storrs says addressing the stigma to intervene when behavior is inappropriate, also means implementing proper protocols for adults interacting with kids. He said for example, coaches should not text youth individually, but include parents in all communications. 

That extends to online safety, he said. Nationally, there are increasing rates of predatory behavior and “sextortion,” a form of blackmail where perpetrators threaten to disclose information or images unless the victims make specific demands. Storrs said caregivers should talk with children and youth about what is and isn’t appropriate, in person and online.  

“It’s also making sure that your child understands what the expectations and rules are, as well, of what it’s like to interact with an adult, and what are those boundaries,” he said. 

Storrs said in raising awareness of potentially predatory behavior, it’s also important to trust children when they disclose inappropriate behavior. 

“A lot of kids don’t disclose that X is happening, what they start disclosing is, ‘I don’t feel comfortable, I don’t want to go. I don’t like hanging out with this person anymore.’ They don’t feel connected,” he said. “That’s a sign.”

The statewide prevention plan likens preventing child sexual abuse to wildfire prevention. That means reducing risks, setting safety codes, educating communities and monitoring high risk situations — to prevent harm. 

Three approaches to prevention

The statewide prevention plan has a three-pronged approach: educate and mobilize, cultivate safer environments and act early to prevent harm.

Storrs says all three involve children, families, and community-wide efforts, and the plan calls for local advocacy groups, service providers, schools and governments to gather community input and develop their own child sexual abuse prevention programs and resources best fit around cultural values. The initiative calls for local communities to develop and strengthen systems for children to safely report harm without fear of punishment and family disruption. 

The first prong focuses on education: increasing awareness and reducing stigma, and increasing the number of people able to take action proactively. That means training for youth-focused employees like teachers and coaches, and building in protocols for reporting and addressing inappropriate behavior. It also involves providing educational resources for parents and caregivers on healthy boundaries, warning signs, and how to respond to concerns. 

The plan calls for education and resources for children and youth on what’s appropriate. Storrs says the plan suggests children receive human development education, not necessarily sex education, so that children develop an understanding of consent, their body anatomy and healthy relationships. 

“When you talk to a child about something, it does not give a child permission to engage in something or to act inappropriately,” he said, adding that teaching kids about sex does not give them permission to have it in the same way that teaching kids about car accidents doesn’t give them permission to drive recklessly. 

Education is aimed at empowering children to identify when physical boundaries have been violated, Storrs said. “So when a kid needs to talk about any of their private areas or someone is trying to talk about it or touch it, they’re able to know what’s appropriate and what’s not appropriate,” he said. 

Similarly, reducing shame and stigma can empower children to talk with an adult or caregiver when they’ve experienced or seen adults behaving inappropriately. Children should know that adults should never ask them to keep secrets, Storrs said, and when inappropriate behavior has occurred they can get help to stop it from continuing. 

The second prong, “cultivating safer environments,” calls for state and local governments, Tribes and service organizations to support programs and policies that help families meet essential basic needs to address conditions that put children at risk for sexual abuse.

Storrs noted that children and families with unstable housing, inadequate child care or health care can create circumstances that put children at higher risk. 

“Our safety net plays a critical part in keeping kids safe, not just of child sexual abuse, but child abuse in general,” he said. “We know when families have stable housing, food security, all those things, it puts less stress on the family.”

The plan calls for increasing safety of physical and digital spaces where youth spend time, and local community organizations to hold listening sessions in communities to identify risk factors and best prevention strategies.

The third prong aims to prevent harm by increasing access to resources to respond to harmful sexual attitudes or behaviors. That includes addressing people who have harmed or are at risk of harming children.

“I truly believe there’s more gray in our world ever than there is black and white,” Storrs said. “And there are definitely individuals who are 100% predators, and it’s very clear. Then you have individuals that may have some thoughts, but don’t act on it, or it’s controlled internally by themselves and by within the society they are.”

The approach includes responding to harmful and problematic sexual behavior among youth. Storrs said with youth having access to graphic sexual material online, problematic behaviors and attitudes may arise. The plan aims to expand treatment and support services for youth to address harmful behaviors.  

“We’re seeing that kids are sexually maturing faster or becoming more hypersexual at a much younger age without the knowledge, skills, supports and resources to then deal with it or understand it,” Storrs said. “And if kids do not have an adult to talk to, or have learned this information, it starts creating hyper sexual experiences, which then can lead to this harmful sexual behavior.”

Alaska has unique challenges with rural and remote communities having less access to services, Storrs said, as well as grappling with legacies of trauma and adversity. He said the initiative aims to push a statewide focus and investment in policies and programs that support children and families that can help prevent harm. The plan is a collaborative effort, he said, and in the first year advocates with the Alaska Children’s Trust will visit communities to discuss the plan, help raise awareness, identify gaps and strengthen protocols and safer environments to prevent abuse.

“What we want to create that’s very clear in our community, in our state, that we as a community are watching and will not stand for any type of inappropriate behavior with our kids,” Storrs said. “And we will say something, we will step in, and you won’t be allowed.”