Looking Back to Move Forward: The History of Stop It Now! to Inform Future Directions
To mark 30 years of the movement, the Lucy Faithfull Foundation and Stop It Now! US, with funding from the OAK Foundation, commissioned the Sexual Violence Research and Prevention Unit at the University of the Sunshine Coast, Australia, to document its history. The study was led by Dr Nadine McKillop and Dr Susan Rayment-McHugh. It drew on interviews with 20 professional stakeholders across eight jurisdictions and a review of 173 documents.
The report (October 2022) covers:
- the history of each Stop It Now! site
- the factors that shaped its development, including champions, credibility, funding and community buy-in
- its main achievements, notably putting perpetration-focused prevention on the map
It closes with areas for consideration and discussion questions on ownership and governance, operations and growth, and building an evidence base.
Since the report was published more Stop It Nows have launched, the projects run independently but share the aim of creating safer communities.
| Timeline of the international Stop It Now! movement | |
| 1992 | Stop It Now! US launched in Vermont with funding from WK Kellogg |
| 2002 | Stop It Now UK & Ireland launched by the Lucy Faithfull Foundation with funding from the UK government |
| 2012 | Stop It Now! Netherlands launched with funding from Dutch government |
| 2017 | Stop It Now! Flanders launched in Brussels with funding from Flemish government |
| 2022 | Stop It Now! Australia launched with funding from Westpac Safer Communities |
| 2022 | Stop It Now! Bruxelles launched |
| 2026 | Stop It Now! Malta launched |
| 2026 | Stop It Now! Hong Kong launched |
Since their respective launches, the different Stop It Now! projects in the US, UK & Ireland, the Netherlands and Flanders have all received increasing numbers of contacts from people seeking support or advice in their respective countries/regions, demonstrating not only their success but also showing the need for such prevention efforts.
Internationally, other child sexual abuse prevention projects have been established that have collaborated with and/or used the experience and knowledge of the Stop It Now! family in developing their services.
In December 2022 we held an online international conference to celebrate and showcase 30 years of child sexual abuse prevention. You can watch the recording of the conference.