CAP IN GENERAL

CAP is one of the most quality and most comprehensive programmes for the primary prevention of child abuse in the world.

CAP (pron. ˈkæp, acronym for Child Assault Prevention) originated in 1978 in Columbus, Ohio, USA. International Center for Assault Prevention – ICAP, established in 1985, has expanded the programme to most of the states in the USA and 18 countries around the world, one of which is also Croatia since 1999. The Parents’ Association Step by Step is an ICAP Regional Training Centre for Croatia. 4 versions of the CAP programme are implemented in Croatia through a network of educated CAP helpers: 

• Pre-school CAP for children of pre-school age
• elementary CAP for children of a younger school age
• TeenCAP for teenagers
• CAP for children with developmental difficulties (Special Needs CAP)

The CAP programme, one of the oldest and most reputable programmes for primary prevention of child abuse in the world has been carried out in Croatia for full 20 years. 

The CAP programme is one of the rare programmes for primary prevention of child abuse in their pre-school and school age, which teaches prevention skills to them in cases of sexual abuse (assault by an unknown and by a known adult person). It has an elaborate curriculum and numerous accompanying materials for every version of the programme (pre-school, basic, Teen and CAP for children with developmental difficulties), very structured activities and mandatory process evaluation, while the expert associates in primary schools and kindergartens consider it to be a concrete, reliable and quality “tool” for primary prevention of child abuse.  

The goals of the CAP programme are: 

• To reduce the vulnerability of the children and their exposure to various forms of violence by teaching them effective prevention strategies and ensuring more quality support from adult persons who are important to them (parents, legal guardians, and educators).
• To encourage the local community to actively advocate the prevention of violence in society, particularly the prevention of violence against and among children. 
• To encourage educational institutions to a systemic approach to primary prevention of violence against and among children.