Moore Family Commitment Revolutionizes How We Protect Children

After just one conversation with Bloomberg School professor Elizabeth Letourneau in 2011, Steve and Julia Moore realized that their vision of protecting children from sexual abuse was not only possible, but also could be accomplished on a population level by using a public health approach. Letourneau’s bold plan to set up a center that focused on the science of child sexual abuse prevention and create an impact was exhilarating. They were ready to make a financial commitment to her work. 

But Letourneau wanted to be sure the Moores understood that by applying a public health framework to prevent child sexual abuse, she would take a direct approach that rejected secrecy, shame, and would hyperfocus on criminal justice. Her work prioritized moving the child sexual abuse field into the light of day, discussing problems openly, and basing prevention on evidence. The Moores saw potential in Letourneau’s plan and agreed that, even if it was uncomfortable, the best way to protect children required tackling the issues head-on. With everyone on the same page, they committed their resources to set up a center that would supercharge Letourneau’s work.

That decision in 2011 has absolutely revolutionized the field.

Thirteen years later, the Moores’ commitment to establish the Moore Center for the Prevention of Child Sexual Abuse, support Letourneau’s leadership, and her research has rewritten the narrative around child sexual abuse. By incorporating justice, healing, and prevention, the Center has elevated the underfunded, under-researched, and overlooked goal of child sexual abuse prevention and created a new agenda driven by public health.

The Moores themselves have been actively involved in the Center’s work, engaging in one-on-one meetings with foundations and policymakers, subsidizing specific projects, and investing in staffing to prioritize the message of prevention.

Recently, the Moores doubled down on their efforts by taking advantage of Johns Hopkins University matching funds to endow a professorship in the Department of Mental Health, which houses the Center. On June 3, Letourneau, PhD, was installed as the inaugural Moore Family Professor. In their remarks during the ceremony, both Steve and Julia spoke of Letourneau’s fierce determination to “put the field on the map.” Indeed, the Center has become a beacon of hope that has led many survivors of child sexual abuse and those affected by it toward healing. 

During Letourneau’s presentation, it became clear that she and her team have catalyzed the field’s research, practices, and advocacy work. In Letourneau's words: “The science is exploding!”  Ten years ago, only eight organizations were involved with child sexual abuse prevention; the Center now collaborates globally with over 50 groups on evidence-based prevention solutions. The Moore Center’s annual Envision conference, held this year at the Hopkins Bloomberg Center in Washington, D.C., welcomed 25 sponsors and 400 in-person and virtual attendees from across the U.S. and around the world.

Such work requires steady funding, which is why the Center helped make the case to federally fund child sexual abuse prevention research, created a budget line item, and increased support to $3 million annually. The CDC has allocated some of the funding to evaluate the effectiveness of nine U.S. perpetration prevention programs and generated evidence that will inform national child sexual abuse prevention efforts.

The speed with which this change in the field has occurred may seem improbable, but it calls to mind American cultural anthropologist Margaret Mead’s assertion: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world.” 

In this instance, never doubt a family’s determination to transform its tragic secret into an effective prevention approach guided by science, honesty, and hope. By investing in evidence-based public health, the Moores are helping to protect millions of children by making child sexual abuse preventable, not inevitable.

Suzanne Flinchbaugh is a writer in the Office of External Affairs at the Bloomberg School. For more information about the Moore Center for the Prevention of Child Sexual Abuse, please contact Joanna Schofield, associate director of development, at jschofield@jhu.edu.