About the Helpline
What do we mean when we say "confidential"?
Who should contact the Helpline?
What can I expect when I call the Helpline?
What can I expect when I email the Helpline?
What can I do if I suspect child sexual abuse?
Where to Get Help-
Key Resources
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The Stop It Now!® Confidential Helpline
Monday-Friday, 9:00 AM-6:00 PM (Eastern Time)
No caller ID is used on this line.
For more than 10 years, the Stop It Now! National Helpline (1.888.PREVENT) has provided a confidential place for thousands of people to speak about a subject that they thought was unspeakable. We offer a chance for adults to voice their personal fears about their own or someone else’s sexualized thoughts or behavior toward children. Often our callers indicate that they have never spoken these words out loud before.
With guidance from our professional staff, adults can learn about sexual abuse; identify specialized treatment options for themselves or someone they care about; develop prevention and safety plan strategies; find language for an effective conversation when they have concerns, and learn how to report those concerns to authorities when appropriate.
What do we mean when we say "confidential"?
We are committed to creating a private place where callers can freely and openly discuss their concerns and consider what steps to take next. To maintain privacy, callers should avoid mentioning identifying details such as last names, addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, and employers of anyone directly involved in an abusive situation. Stop It Now! does not need any of these details to provide you with helpful guidance and resources.
If a caller wishes to file a report, we will offer assistance. If callers choose to give identifying information about specific people involved in a particular child abuse situation, Stop It Now! may be required to file a report. If you have further questions concerning our confidentiality policy, please ask at the beginning of your Helpline call.
Who should contact the Stop It Now! Helpline?
- If you know about a situation of sexual abuse, we will talk with you about developing a safety plan to protect the child, understanding the reporting process, and seeking help for everyone involved.
- If you see possible warning signs of child sexual abuse in adults, teens or children, but are unsure about them or do not have clear evidence, we will talk with you about options. We can provide information, offer strategies to assist you in assessing your best next steps, and direct you to local resources to enable you to protect the child.
- If you are concerned about sexualized behaviors in an adult or child, we can offer tools to help you clarify the differences between healthy sexual behaviors and those that are concerning or that clearly indicate abuse.
- If you are someone who is struggling with sexual thoughts and behaviors towards children and wants to stop, but doesn’t know how, Stop It Now! understands the struggle. With specialized help, people can, and do, learn to control their impulses. We are ready to help with confidential information and referrals. You can begin to live a life without secrets, without lies. Stop It Now! does not offer amnesty. We do offer a way to learn about treatment and offer the support and resources to face accountability and prevent abusive behavior.
Please be aware that the Helpline does not offer legal advice, therapy, or carry out investigations of any kind. If you are looking for advocacy or support regarding an active investigation or court case, we have a limited list of resources we can offer. If you need legal advice or counsel, please consult an attorney directly.
What can I expect when I call
the Stop It Now! Helpline?
The Stop It Now! Helpline is a safe place to talk with knowledgeable professionals working in the field of child sexual abuse prevention. Our supportive Helpline Staff
will help
you:
- Learn how to get help to overcome the fears and denial that stop us from addressing situations and behaviors in ourselves or others that may make children vulnerable to sexual abuse.
- Learn the signs to look for in an adult who may be at risk of abusing or who is already sexually abusing a child.
- Think through how to get help to control your impulses if you are thinking about
touching a child in a sexual way.
- Find out the difference between healthy sexual behaviors, sexually concerning behaviors and sexually harmful behaviors in children.
- Talk about what you may be witnessing and give you information to help you decide whether or not
you are "over-reacting" to a situation and what
may be your next step.
- Get referrals to resources
so that everyone involved in the abusive situation can get the help they need. Although Stop It Now! offers resources nationwide, we are able to give expanded local resources and referrals to callers from those areas where we have community-based programming.
- Get information about how to report your concerns, and how to most effectively describe those concerns to authorities.
What can I expect when I email the Stop It Now! Helpline?
- If you are more comfortable emailing your questions to Stop It Now!, contact us at helpline@stopitnow.org. Although our ability to offer an in-depth and personalized response is somewhat limited in an email, we can offer guidance, resources and referrals in response to your questions.
- Because of rapidly changing technology and the insecure nature of email, confidentiality cannot be assured in any email exchange. We encourage you to call our Helpline at 1.888.PREVENT if you require confidentiality.
- As is true for our Helpline, we do not offer legal advice, therapy, or carry out investigations of any kind through our email service.
- Please include a subject title in your email.
- Please do not transmit images or attachments.
- Because of the nature of language used in some of our correspondence, our emails can sometimes get captured in spam filters. To ensure that our personal reply to your email inquiry is delivered successfully to your inbox, please add info@stopitnow.org to your address book or safe senders list.
What can I do if I suspect child sexual abuse?
If you suspect child sexual abuse, but have no solid information, you may still be able to take protective actions to re-establish a safe environment, until the facts become clearer.
- If you feel that an adult is being inappropriate with a child (see Warning Signs About Child Sexual Abuse), you may want to talk to this adult about your concerns. You can let the individual know that the behavior is making the child and others uncomfortable and stress the importance of specialized treatment. Some people who have sexually abused have said that if they were confronted, by someone who cared about them, they might have stopped and looked for help. You can learn more about how and when to speak up by reading Let's Talk, a guide written for adults talking to adults about child sexual abuse.
- You may want to consider developing a Family Safety Plan to establish a safer environment for the people you are concerned about. A strong family safety plan can protect children from potential abuse and can also interrupt the cycle of abuse once it has started. You may also want to keep a journal in order to document concerning behavior in an adult or a child and to help clarify the patterns of behavior that pose a risk to children. The journal should be specific, complete with date, time and a description of the behaviors that warrant concern.
- If you suspect child sexual abuse, you may want to consult with an expert in child sexual abuse to discuss your concerns and to obtain a professional opinion on whether the child is being sexually abused and what steps to take next to protect the child from further abuse. You should be aware that in most states counselors are mandated reporters and will be required to notify the authorities if they suspect that a child is endangered or has been harmed. For information on specialized treatment referrals, see our online resource page or call our Helpline at 1.888.PREVENT.
- Finally, don’t try to sort things out alone. Report anything you suspect is child sexual abuse. Without help, the abuse will not stop. To report, you can call your state child protective services office, Childhelp®, 800.4.A.CHILD (800.422.4453), or your local police department.
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