As adults, it’s our responsibility to keep children safe and protected from abuse. But we also acknowledge that we can help children protect themselves by teaching them to recognize, respond to, and report unsafe behavior and situations—especially sexually inappropriate touch.
Once staff complete their training, they begin teaching the lessons with a scope and sequence for each grade. Educators can use the included posters to display in classrooms and throughout the building to reinforce key concepts, such as Never-Never Rules and Ways to Stay Safe.
Child abuse, particularly sexual abuse, thrives on silence and shame. With the Child Protection Unit, we can help children understand that abuse is not their fault and that it’s okay to say no to touches that make them uncomfortable.

The Second Step Child Protection Unit is a research-based personal safety curriculum for PreK to Grade 5 that encourages help-seeking and positive student norms teaching students to Recognize, Refuse, and Report unsafe or abusive situations.
The Child Protection Unit provides a multi-layered approach to child safety. We developed the Child Protection Unit to help protect children from all walks of life, all over the world. It includes training, guidance, and resources for administrators, teachers, counselors, and families. Student lessons are age-appropriate and designed for Early Learning through Grade 5 classrooms.
• Six (6) lessons for PreK-Grade 5, taught once per week for 30 minutes
• Includes role-based 60-90 minute training modules for administrators, all staff, and those delivering lessons to help educators understand and recognize the signs of abuse or maltreatment, respond with trauma-sensitive practices, and report disclosures of abuse appropriately, as well as provide guidance to help educators feel comfortable; training completion reporting included
• Family materials are included: Family Letters to notify parents and caregivers about the sensitive subject matter being taught and Take-Home Activities that further reinforce skills and encourage family discussions.

Child Protection Unit program scope and sequence, review of research, sample lessons, and much more can be found at http://www.secondstep.org/child-protection.

The Second Step family of programs contain proprietary materials that are copyrighted and are meant for school use. More information on our copyrights can be found here: Copyright Permissions. When a district purchases a Second Step program, they are purc