U.S. Pilot OOSI
About the U.S. Pilot OOSI
The United States does not have a holistic, child-centered system in place to prevent and respond to CSEA. The World Childhood Foundation USA’s (Childhood USA) United States Pilot Out of the Shadows Index (U.S. Pilot OOSI), developed by Economist Impact, is a first attempt to develop this holistic, coordinated approach. The U.S. Pilot OOSI is designed to answer the questions “what does a holistic approach to protect children from CSEA and empower children to protect themselves look like?” and “are states developing systems, policies and programs that are aligned with this holistic approach?”.
Our framework defines a holistic approach as a prevention and response system sensitive to the broader socio-ecological environment that gives priority to the interests and needs of the child. The U.S. Pilot OOSI builds on the Global Out of the Shadows Index and helps uncover how 12 states are tackling CSEA both in person and online. Using 182 individual metrics aggregated into 22 indicators and four pillars, the U.S. Pilot OOSI assesses states’ legal frameworks; policies and programs to protect and educate children and key stakeholders; provision of support services for victims and offenders; and the justice process for victims.
Download 2022 U.S. Pilot ReportData Exploration
The U.S. Pilot OOSI is designed to help uncover how 12 states are tackling CSEA both in person and online. Using 182 individual metrics aggregated into 22 indicators and four pillars, the U.S. Pilot OOSI assesses states’ legal frameworks; policies and programs to protect and educate children and key stakeholders; provision of support services for victims and offenders; and the justice process for victims.
Download 2022 U.S. Pilot DataMethodology
The U.S. Pilot OOSI includes data and information across 22 indicators and 182 sub-indicators, grouped into four categories across two pillars that measure the extent to which states are implementing measures to prevent and respond to CSEA:
Prevention Pillar
- Legal framework & state capacity: Assesses the degree to which a state provides legal or regulatory protections for children from sexual exploitation and abuse.
- Policies & programs: Assesses government-driven initiatives and civil society programs to address the economic, social and environmental risk factors that could increase children’s susceptibility to sexual exploitation and abuse.
Response Pillar
- Provision of support services: Takes into account both government-led and civil society support systems outside of the justice system for victims of CSEA, specifically around health, medical support services, mental health and rehabilitation and how to increase child-centered decision-making through the recovery process.
- Justice process: Measures the capacity of the justice system from the initial moment of response through to resolution of the case, assessing its capacity, responsiveness, and effectiveness to assess to what extent it keeps the best interests of the child at its core.
Key Findings:
1. Participating States
Using 182 metrics aggregated into 22 indicators and 4 pillars, the report analyzed 12 US states and found substantial gaps in each of the states to protect children from CSEA. The gaps differ from state to state, but there is a common thread: the prevention and response systems do not consistently place the interests and needs of the child at its core.
2. Sex Education
Although sex education and HIV/ sexually-transmitted infection (STI) instruction is mandated in most states, there are few requirements that such instruction be evidence based or medically accurate. Only Illinois requires sex education to be evidence based and just three pilot states require sex education to be medically accurate. Access to comprehensive sex education — which encompasses both healthy sexuality and relationships and social-emotional learning — is a critical component of CSEA prevention.
3. The Cost of Medical Support
No pilot state provides comprehensive medical support free of charge to CSEA victims outside of reimbursement through victim compensation programs. This includes provision of pregnancy testing, emergency contraception, STI testing, medications, treatment for injuries sustained during the assault, and counseling. Just three pilot states prohibit hospitals and medical professionals from billing CSEA victims for emergency contraception and two for treatment of injuries sustained during the assault.
Individual State Reports
Download California Report
Download Connecticut Report
Download Illinois Report
Download Louisiana Report
Download Minnesota Report
Download Nevada Report
Download New York Report
Download North Dakota Report
Download Texas Report
Download Vermont Report
Download West Virginia Report
Download Wyoming Report
About World Childhood Foundation
For over 20 years World Childhood Foundation USA’s (Childhood USA), founded by HMQ Silvia of Sweden, mission has been to inspire, promote, and develop solutions to end sexual abuse, exploitation, and violence against children. A United Nations accredited NGO, Childhood USA serves children and their families in the United States through innovative and grassroots programmatic support, and advocacy initiatives, such as the US Pilot Out of the Shadows Index.
Our Vision
A world where all children are free from violence, sexual abuse, and exploitation.
Our Mission
To inspire, promote, and develop solutions to end sexual abuse, exploitation, and violence against children.
Three Thematic Areas
We work in three thematic areas — Child Supportive Environments and Relationships, Child Safety Online, and Child Focused Response to Abuse. The themes are chosen based on the areas where children are particularly vulnerable and youth groups that are disproportionately affected by Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (CSEA).