The ICMEC Education Portal provides news of global or regional significance in support of abuse prevention, comprehensive policies and protocols, and the furthering of constructive discussion around child protection in youth serving organizations. Material presented here does not constitute an endorsement by ICMEC, nor can we guarantee veracity or accuracy.

You may share resources or articles for possible inclusion with EdPortal@ICMEC.org.

• Japanese school yields to legal threat, disclosing child’s abuse complaint to offender (BBC, Feb)
• #ENDviolence in schools global study  (UNICEF, Jan)
• How do new accreditation standards affect schools’ child protection procedures and practices? (CIS Perspectives blog, Jan)
• Charity reports one third increase over last year in websites depicting abuse of children (IWF, Jan)
• Why the movie ‘Eighth Grade’ is great for digital citizenship conversations (Common Sense Education, Jan)
• Arrest of child predator who groomed children on Fortnite game chat (BBC, Jan)
• South Korean sports communities address physical and sexual abuse claims (NYT, Jan)
• Switzerland:  spike in FBI referrals for child pornography (CSAM) downloads (SwissInfo, Jan)
• Report on African community attitudes towards physical punishment (AFRUCA, Jan)
• Schools’ response to abusive sports rituals faces public reckoning in wake of #MeToo (BBC, Jan)
• Intimate teacher-student relationship reevaluated as unprofessional (Chicago Tribune, Jan)
• We’re teaching consent all wrong (EdWeek, Jan)
• Philippines amends legislation to include electronic abuse in child protection act (Manila Bulletin, Dec)
• India proposes national requirements for code of conduct policy in wake of horrific institutional abuse  (The Hindu, Dec)
• US study finds issuing report cards on Friday increases physical abuse (NYT, Dec)
• Combating adolescent sexual violence by addressing situational factors (Psychology Today, Dec)
• When schools use mandatory reporting as a weapon against parents (Hechinger Report, Dec)
• Betrayed: exposé on all aspects of how Chicago Public Schools mishandled sexual abuse of students (Chicago Tribune, Nov)
• 6 tips from an expert on ID verification when hiring (SecEd, Nov)
• Child protection in UAE, schools doing more but reporting is obligation of all (Nation, Nov)
• In Canada sexual hazing assaults prompt outcry over private school’s response (BBC, Nov)
  • Video:  Principal discusses how concerns came to light (CBC, Nov)
• UK school pays damages following case of peer abuse (Guardian, Nov)
• A challenge issued:  what I will no longer be doing when it comes to child protection (CIS Perspectives, Nov)
• Child protection now a ‘non-negotiable’ for UK registered charities and international youth serving organizations (Farrer & Co, Oct)
• Lack of child protection policies and appalling response to abuse undermines charity and schools they run (NPR, Oct)
• Hotline calls from victims of peer abuse up 30% over previous year (Guardian, Oct)
• Senegal struggles to combat sexual abuse by teachers (Human Rights Watch, Oct)
• Kenya halts registration of new orphanages, considers ban on involvement of foreigners (Daily Nation, Oct)
• NSPCC Learning site launched for child-serving professionals (NSPCC, Oct)
• Google Europe offers organizations online image content search to identify/remove child sexual abuse images (CSAM) (Google, Sept)
• Introduction to new protocol for managing allegations of child abuse by educators and other adults (Farrer & Co, Sept)
• Results of new US national study on teens’ social media habits (Common Sense Media, Sept)
• Support provided to UK schools for required relationships and sex education (SecEd, Sept)
• Illegal FGM leaves 50 girls in hospital in Burkina Faso (BBC, Sept)
• Slippery slope of inappropriate student attachment (Voice of San Diego, Sept)
• Contraction of US Title IX expected to ‘substantially decrease’ school costs and obligation to investigate sexual harassment and abuse (NYT, Sept)
• Singapore considers strong legislative protections for children under 18 experiencing sexual abuse (Singapore Law Watch, Sept)
• Five teachers arrested in one week for child abuse material as UK calls for tech firms to do more (The Guardian, Sept)
• UK teacher barred for inappropriate sexual comments to colleagues and students (BBC, Aug)
• Star teacher’s sexual harassment now seen as abusive (Washington Post, Aug)
• Australian law to address orphanage trafficking may have implications for school outreach programs (E-International Relations, Aug)
• Men talk about why they don’t report sexual abuse and why #UsToo matters (NYT, Aug)
• US elementary principals:  child protection among top concerns, ‘extreme’ need for professional development (EdWeek, Aug)
• Independent review of Scottish Football Association calls for culture change and finds ‘inadequate’ child protection (Guardian, Aug)
• Japan rocked by failed response to parental neglect and physical abuse (Reuters, July)
• Social media platform tested in Mali in response to UNSC resolution requiring facilitated communication between stakeholders around child protection (DevDiscourse, July)
• A teacher reflects on the cost of learning what you don’t know (Worldview blog, July)
• Australia starts national redress scheme for survivors of institutional abuse (BBC, July)
• Brazilian CSA survivor jails her offender (in Portuguese) (BBC, July)
• Growing alarm over unregulated children’s video streaming services  (Ted Talk, June 2018)
• How do Indian parents talk to their children about abuse? (BBC, June 2018)
• Online grooming through social networks and gaming platforms increases worldwide child trafficking (Straits Times, June 2018)
• 2300 arrested in US for online facilitated child sexual abuse following 25,000 tips over 3 month period (WTOP, June 2018)
• Growing gender equity and #MeToo supports disclosure in Hong Kong (South China Morning Post, June 2018)
• The Legacy of Childhood Trauma (New Yorker, June 2018)
• UK national inquiry into child sexual abuse (IICSA) publishes interim report, predicting more legal responsibility for institutions (IICSA, June 2018)
• Research on female offenders
  • Characteristics of school employee sexual misconduct (Magnolia Consulting, June 2018)
  • Motivation of female teacher abusers examined (MedicalXPress, June 2018)
  • Survivor trauma from female offenders equals or exceeds that of male offenders (MedicalXPress, June 2018)
• When the stories feel too hard to teach:  abuse survivor on teaching about abuse (EdWeek blog, June 2018)
• Supreme Court upholds dismissal of British school leader for of lack of appropriate child protection concern (Farrer & Co, June 2018)
• US report finds most ed-tech products used by schools fail to meet marketing and moderating minimum standards (EdWeek Market Brief, May 2018)
• *UK updates statutory guidance for schools on child protection (KCSIE) and peer abuse (SVSH) (Farrer & Co, May 2018)
  • *See Risk Management for full updated guidance
• Despite child protection laws, children re-traumatized due to untrained professionals and attitudes of public
  • Malaysia: child advocate outlines reasons strong legislation fails to protect (The Malaysia Insight, Sept 2018)
  • Kenya: government guidance highlights need for MDTs and more parental knowledge to protect children online (Daily Nation, July 2018)
  • Ireland:  lack of trained professionals and MDTs adds to trauma (Irish Examiner, June 2018)
  • Sierra Leone:  victims of sexual abuse blamed and excluded from education (All Africa, May 2018)
  • India, Tamil Nadu:  POCSO fails children, professional training needed (The Hindu, May 2018)
  • United States:  lack of compliance with federal provisions results in ‘passing the trash’ (NPR, April 2018)
• UK study shows unrestricted, unsupervised access to phones, webcams is serious risk to children under 13 (IWF, May 2018)
• Break the cycle of abusive parenting (Gulf News, May 2018)
• Age restrictions changing in EU due to GDPR:  WhatsApp minimum age 16 (Childnet, BBC May 2018)
• Teaching teens about boundary violations helps them cope with relationship abuse (NYT, April 2018)
• UK threatens social media firms with legislation for not keeping children safe online (BBC, April 2018)
• UC Berkeley Study indicates 57% of Google ‘designed for family’ children’s apps violate Coppa privacy laws (The Guardian, April 2018))
• JAMA report indicates teen ‘sexting’ on increase, advises on preventative conversations for parents (NYT, April 2018)
• Changes to consent laws for minors in France proposed: some feel they don’t go far enough (NYT, April 2018)
• Convicted Australian sex offender on run 20 years found-in an international school in Rio (The Australian, April 2018)
• YouTube ‘broke child protection laws’ says complaint (BBC, April 2018)
• Reflection on CIS Child Protection Training (Mandarin and English below) (yule.sohu.com, April 2018)
• One take on what the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) laws mean for children (London School of Economics blog, April 2018)
• Shocking scale of sexual abuse in UK boarding schools revealed by documentary (ITV, March 2018)
• Free Child Protection Fundamentals course offered to charities working with schools for limited time (EduCare, March 2018)
• Following sexting scandal, China’s Communist Youth League works with video platform giant Bilibili to launch ‘protection center’ in May  (Sixth Tone, March 2018)
• Canadian Survivors’ Survey: results of ongoing nationwide survey of survivors of recorded childhood sexual abuse (Canadian Centre for Child Protection, Sept 2017)
• ECPAT/INTERPOL study:  boys and young victims at greater risk in severe online sexual exploitation materials (ECPAT, March 2018)
• Social media users in China uncover and report child predator rings (Global Times, Feb 2018)
• Lawsuit:  school ignored red flags before student abduction by teacher (AP, Jan 2018)
• Making schools an oasis of safety:  superintendent fosters climate of prevention through community outreach (EdWeek, Feb 2018)
• Hong Kong advocate says ‘violence is not parenting’ as abuse cases rise (South China Morning Post, Feb 2018)
• UAE gets tough on child abuse:  zero tolerance policy and reporting protocols detailed (Gulf News, Nov 2017)
• Obligation of staff to report peer-on-peer threats leads to barrage of legal issues following school shooting (EdWeek, Feb 2018)
• Countries work together to find and convict sadistic online predator who blackmailed children into abuse (Independent, Feb 2018)
• School reaches $80 million settlement including a ‘recovery fund’ following decades of abuse (KHON, Feb 2018)
• US Congress to vote on stronger organizational responses to preventing sexual abuse (CBS News, Jan 2018)
  • Full wording of Protecting Young Victims from Sexual Abuse Act of 2017 (Congress.gov)
• What do schools teach about sexual harassment? (EdWeek, Jan 2018)
• Focus on what Michigan State knew:  demand for investigation of abuse reporting (NYT, Jan 2018)
• Survivor tells organizations that sheltered abuser, it’s your turn to listen to me (Time, Jan 2018)
• University faces victims:  today is about your story, MSU/Nassar (The Detroit News, Jan 2018)
• Larry Nassar:  a trail of sexual abuse in schools, homes, and sports facilities (The Detroit News, Jan 2018)
• Student complaints about teen classroom helper not heeded (The Gazette, Jan 2018)
• Facebook reports youths now charged in Denmark for distributing sexually explicit material (BBC, Jan 2018)
• India launches portal for reporting online abuse (The Hindu, Jan 2018)
• Spotlighting Problem of Sexual Assault in Schools #MeTooK12 (EdWeek, Jan 2018)
• Snapchat and schools – monitoring what students post online (Most viewed EdWeek video of 2017, PBS News Hour)
• Why Indonesian activists are defending JIS teachers jailed for sexual abuse (SEAsia Globe, Jan 2018)
• Indonesian maid charged for streaming video of children bathing:  cultural differences blamed (BBC, Dec 2017)
• China Education Ministry ‘lays down the law’:  schools must respond to peer-on-peer abuse (Sixth Tone, Dec 2017)
• Australia Royal Commission issues 17 volume final report of five year study into institutional responses to child sexual abuse (The Guardian, Dec 2017)
  • Official website of final report (includes reports, research, recommendations, and case studies)
  • Report preface and executive summary
• International Megan’s Law:  US passports of child sex offenders will note their convictions (NYT, Nov 2017)
• How a school committed to child protection training in Arabic to meet the needs of its community (CIS Perspectives, Nov 2017)
• My life after sexual assault:  Diana Nyad writes powerfully on abuse and disclosure (NYT, Nov 2017)
• NAIS/TABS Task Force addresses educator sexual misconduct (Keeping Tabs blog, Aug 2017)
• Series on peer abuse in US schools, including case studies (AP, May 2017)
• Peer-on-peer sexual assaults in sports minimized as ‘hazing’  (AP/CBS News, May 2017)
• Former Penn State president found guilty in Sandusky abuse case (New York Times, March 2017)