Survivors, Experts to Speak at Penn State’s National Conference on Child Sexual Abuse in October

Survivors of childhood sexual abuse Sugar Ray Leonard and Elizabeth Smart are just two on a list of featured guests and experts who will speak at Penn State’s National Conference on Child Sexual Abuse in October. 

The Child Sexual Abuse Conference, titled Traumatic Impact, Prevention, and Intervention will be held Oct. 29-30 at the Penn Stater Conference Center Hotel. It will bring together some of the nation’s top experts in child sexual abuse and child trauma research, prevention, and treatment for a public forum on this nationwide problem.

Penn State spokesman Dave La Torre released the university’s announcement this morning. 

The two-day conference will feature discussions with Sugar Ray Leonard and Elizabeth Smart, both of whom suffered sexual abuse as children. Leonard, an American boxing icon and Olympic gold medalist, will deliver a keynote address and participate in a Q&A with attendees, while Smart will serve as the conference’s closing speaker. The event will also include nationally recognized experts in the field of child sexual abuse and child trauma from across academia, including:

• Dr. David Finkelhor, director of the Crimes against Children Research Center at the University of New Hampshire

• Dr. Penelope Trickett, David Lawrence Stein/Violet Goldberg Sachs Professor of Mental Health in the School of Social Work at the University of Southern California

• Lucy Berliner, director of the Harborview Center for Sexual Assault and Traumatic Stress; clinical associate professor at the University of Washington School of Social Work and Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences.

Registration as well as more information on the conference is available to the general public at protectchildren.psu.edu/.

‘More than nine percent of children were victims of sexual abuse in 2010, according to the latest national survey, and this doesn’t take into account severe under-reporting of this crime. Research shows that child sexual abuse affects children of all ages, both genders, and all ethnicities and socioeconomic backgrounds. No group of children is exempt. Nonetheless, it remains an issue that the nation finds difficult to talk about,’ said Kate Staley, a researcher at the Penn State Justice Center for Research, a co-organizer of the event.

‘This conference will bring together compelling speakers who are experts in child sexual abuse and child trauma and who know how to translate their knowledge for the general public. We believe this event will raise awareness of this national problem and teach all of us how to better protect our children,’ she said.

Organized by the Penn State Justice Center for Research and Penn State Outreach, the conference will address a variety of topics, including the traumatic impact of child sexual abuse, evidence-based methods of treatment and prevention, characteristics of pedophiles including their use of the internet as a gateway for child sexual abuse, and the legal issues involved in a child abuse investigation. It is designed to help educate the public in Pennsylvania and across the nation about this critical issue.

‘Penn State has made a commitment to becoming a leader in the research, prevention and treatment of child abuse, and this conference is an important part of that,’ said Penn State President Rodney Erickson. ‘What happened at Penn State could – and does – happen in other communities across the country, and we hope that this conference will be a catalyst for furthering the knowledge that can lead to a safer environment for children in our nation and around the world.’

Partnering on the conference are the Penn State Hershey Center for the Protection of Children,Child Study Center, Prevention Research Center, and the Penn State Center for Children and the Law. Other participating organizations include the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape, theNational Sexual Violence Resource Center, and the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.