CPAN conducts research and evaluation related to the prevention of interpersonal violence, focusing on child abuse, neglect, identity-based violence in childhood, and harm reduction. CPAN is engaged in multiple research projects, including investigating school and community-based prevention education and advocacy effectiveness, child abuse prevalence, and environments that promote childhood safety and well-being.

Protect Our Children

In 2015, The Ford Family Foundation began investing in an effort to end child sexual abuse through Protect Our Children. Protect Our Children is a community-based training program aimed at increasing knowledge about child sexual abuse and promoting pro-prevention attitudes and prevention behaviors. A statewide coordinator overseeing program implementation, rural partner sites and a coordinated learning community have championed this effort in Oregon and Siskiyou County, California. Protect Our Children is now at a pivotal point in its evolution as it grows into a standalone program.

This report details the overall impact of its first seven years as a program of The Ford Family Foundation. It includes information drawn from over 10,000 pre- and post-surveys, follow-up surveys with 425 selected participants cross-compared with 457 randomly selected Oregonians, and focus groups and surveys with partner site representatives. Data were collected between September 2015 and June 2022.

Oregon Child Abuse Prevalence Study (OCAPS)

The Oregon Child Abuse Prevalence Study is designed to measure rates of child abuse and neglect in Oregon – and to track changes over time. This will help Oregonians to direct resources where they are most likely to be helpful, and to determine whether we are making progress toward a shared goal of safety and well-being for children and youth in our communities.

OCAPS is the first child abuse prevalence study of its kind in the U.S. and will make it possible, for the first time, to answer important questions much more accurately.

In 2022, CPAN was successful in securing $700,000 in support of a statewide representative prevalence study. It addition to prevalence, our design includes a youth voice component and innovative data dissemination plan in partnership with the School of Journalism that pairs raising awareness about this public health, human rights, and social justice problem with youth perspective on prevention. The study will begin in the fall with a report to be released by September 2023.

Oregon Child Abuse Prevention Climate Survey

CPAN is administering a 50-item Climate Survey in Lane County, OR and Whatcom, WA every four years through 2032.