Office of the Attorney General
Attorney General Conway Announces Availability of Child Sexual Abuse Prevention Grant

Attorney General Jack Conway and his Office of Victim Advocacy today announced the availability of the Child Victims’ Trust Fund’s (CVTF) Annual Regional Prevention Grant. Revenue for the grant comes from proceeds of the “I Care About Kids” special license plate, the Kentucky Income Tax Refund Check-Off and private donations. The CVTF Annual Regional Prevention Grant provides funding for regional sexual abuse prevention programs and projects to educate Kentucky citizens about this horrendous crime.

“The consequences of sexual abuse, particularly on a child, are significant and can last a lifetime,” said General Conway, who chairs the Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation Prevention Board (CSAEP), which administers the regional prevention grant. “The CVTF regional prevention grant helps ensure that citizens across the Commonwealth know how to protect their children and that those children are armed with knowledge to combat sexual abuse.”

Nationally, rates regarding child victims of rape or sexual assault range from 1.2 to 1.9 children per 1,000. According to statistics from Kentucky Youth Advocates’ Kids Count report, there were 3,382 investigations of child sexual abuse in Kentucky in 2008. Approximately one-third of all sexual assaults reported to law enforcement involved a victim under the age of 12 and it’s estimated that only one in 10 victims of sexual abuse ever discloses the abuse. There is also strong evidence that this horrific crime is directly tied to the growth of pornography on the Internet.

“As Attorney General, I have made protecting Kentucky children my top priority and that is why I created a cybercrimes unit devoted to investigating crimes that occur online, particularly against children. To date, my cybercrimes investigators have seized more than 41,800 child porn images and are actively investigating 85 child pornography cases,” said General Conway.

This fiscal year, the CSAEP Board awarded nearly $170,000 to sexual abuse prevention programs and to defray the costs of child sexual abuse medical exams. The registration deadline for the Annual Regional Prevention Grant is February 26, 2010. For additional information or a grant application form go to http://ag.ky.gov/criminal/victims/ or call (800) 372-2551 or (502) 696-5312.