Terms of Use

1. Introduction

Welcome to stopchildabuse.org (the “Site”), the official online platform of Stop Child Abuse (“SCA,” “we,” “us,” or “our”), a nonprofit organization registered in the District of Columbia, United States of America. These Terms of Use (“Terms”) govern your access to and use of the Site and all associated content, services, platforms, and tools provided by SCA.

By accessing or using the Site, you agree to be legally bound by these Terms, our Privacy Policy, our Disclaimer and Affiliation Disclosure, and any other posted policies (collectively, the "Agreements"). These Agreements are incorporated herein by reference. If you do not agree to the terms of these Agreements, you must discontinue all use of the Site.

1.1 Changes to Terms

We reserve the right to modify these Terms at any time. We will notify you of significant changes by posting a notice on the Site, by sending an email to registered users, or by other means as we deem appropriate. The "Effective Date" at the top of these Terms will indicate when the latest modifications were made. Your continued use of the Site after such notice constitutes your acceptance of the modified Terms. We encourage you to review these Terms periodically.

2. Organizational Scope, Domains, and Jurisdiction

2.1 Scope of Operations

Stop Child Abuse operates across all 50 U.S. states and internationally, partnering with affiliated organizations focused on preventing child abuse. While some affiliates collaborate under brand usage agreements, each operates as a legally independent entity.

These Terms are governed by the laws of the District of Columbia, and all disputes shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the federal and local courts in Washington, D.C.

2.2 Domains and Licensing

The following domain names are registered trademarks or intellectual property assets owned by Stop Child Abuse (“SCA”), and are used by its authorized affiliates under license:

• stopchildabuse.es
• stopchildabuse.org
• stopchildabuse.ru
• All subdomains of the above (e.g., donate.stopchildabuse.org)

Use of these domains or their subdomains is strictly governed by applicable trademark, copyright, and domain name laws. Unauthorized registration, use, impersonation, or redirection of similar domains, including confusingly similar variants (e.g., stopchildabus3.org), is prohibited. Such unauthorized use constitutes trademark infringement and cybersquatting under U.S. law, including the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act (ACPA) (15 U.S.C. § 1125). We aggressively protect our intellectual property and reserve the right to pursue all available remedies, including:

• Domain Seizure: Seeking the transfer or cancellation of the infringing domain name via ICANN’s Uniform Domain-Name Dispute-Resolution Policy (UDRP) or court order.
• Statutory Damages: Filing a lawsuit to seek statutory damages of between $1,000 and $100,000 per domain name under the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act (ACPA).

Certain country-specific domains may be operated by authorized affiliates under binding agreements. All such use is subject to the licensing terms established by SCA, and any breach of those terms may result in revocation of domain rights. Unless otherwise stated on the local site, these affiliates:

• Operate under their own legal authority;
• Are not agents or representatives of SCA;
• Are solely responsible for the content, user data, and services they provide.

Unless explicitly indicated otherwise, these Terms apply only to domains operated directly by SCA. Local sites may have their own terms and privacy policies, which users should consult.

3. Permitted Use and Prohibited Conduct

You may use the Site solely for lawful, non-commercial purposes aligned with our mission. You agree not to:

• Violate any laws or third-party rights;
• Infringe or misuse any intellectual property;
• Submit unlawful, abusive, defamatory, or misleading content;
• Circumvent any technical or security protections;
• Misrepresent your identity or organizational affiliation.

3.1 Prohibition on Data Scraping and Automated Access

You may not use any robot, spider, crawler, scraper, data mining tool, or other automated means to access, copy, store, or otherwise interact with the Site or its content, unless expressly authorized in writing by SCA.

This includes—but is not limited to—scraping or harvesting:

• Survivor stories and abuse-related narratives;
• Missing children profiles or NGO directory listings;
• Research reports, data tools, graphics, or infographics;
• Donor, volunteer, or affiliate data.

The use of any Site content for the purpose of training artificial intelligence models, machine learning algorithms, or for commercial aggregation, resale, or derivative works is strictly prohibited.

Violators may face suspension, account termination, and legal action under contract, IP, and applicable computer misuse laws.

3.2 Age Restrictions

The Site is intended for a general audience and is not primarily directed at children. If you are under the age of 13 (or a higher applicable age of consent for data processing in your jurisdiction, such as 16 in some regions of Europe), you may only use the Site with the supervision and consent of a parent or legal guardian. Specific services or content submissions involving individuals you know to be under such ages require verified parental or guardian consent as outlined in Section 6. We do not knowingly collect personal information directly from children under these ages without such consent. Parents or guardians are responsible for supervising their children's use of the Site.

4. User Accounts and NGO Portal Access

Certain features—such as donor tracking, research participation, or profile claiming—require registration. You agree to:

• Provide truthful information;
• Maintain confidentiality of login credentials;
• Notify SCA immediately of unauthorized access.

We reserve the right to suspend or delete accounts for breach of these Terms. Access to specific portals, such as any designated Volunteer Portal (see Section 5), may require additional authorization and is subject to further terms.

5. Volunteers and Volunteer Portal

If you are an authorized volunteer for Stop Child Abuse (“Volunteer”), your volunteer activities and your access to and use of designated non-public areas of the Site, including the dedicated Volunteer Portal, are governed by these Terms of Use and, additionally, by a separate Volunteer Agreement, Handbook, and/or other policies provided to you by SCA (collectively, “Volunteer Terms”).

By accessing the Volunteer Portal or performing duties as a Volunteer, you acknowledge and agree to the Volunteer Terms. In the event of any direct conflict between these Terms of Use and the Volunteer Terms regarding your specific activities and responsibilities as a Volunteer, the Volunteer Terms shall prevail.

As a Volunteer, you may have access to sensitive or confidential information. You agree to maintain the strict confidentiality of such information in accordance with your Volunteer Terms.

Any intellectual property, including but not limited to content, materials, or innovations, created by you within the scope of your official duties as a Volunteer is and shall remain the exclusive property of Stop Child Abuse, as further detailed in the Volunteer Terms.

Unauthorized use of the Volunteer Portal, breach of confidentiality, or any violation of the Volunteer Terms may result in the termination of your access to the Volunteer Portal, suspension or termination of your volunteer status, and other remedies available to SCA under law or equity.

6. User Content and Submissions

Users may submit content to the Site, including—but not limited to—testimonials, comments, forum posts, NGO data, survey responses, and missing child information. This section primarily governs content submitted by general users. Content submitted by authorized Volunteers in their official capacity is addressed in Section 5 and the Volunteer Terms.

By submitting content as a general user, you:

• Grant Stop Child Abuse a non-exclusive, royalty-free, worldwide, perpetual license to use, display, reproduce, distribute, translate, edit, and adapt such content for advocacy, educational, and public awareness purposes;
• Affirm that you have full rights to the content and that it does not infringe on any third-party rights;
• Waive any moral rights or claims to compensation arising from our reuse of such content, to the extent permitted by law.

We reserve the right to moderate, edit, refuse, or delete content at our sole discretion. We are not responsible for any content posted by users or affiliates, even if hosted on our infrastructure.

You may not submit:

• Content that involves identifiable minors without verified parental or guardian consent, obtained through SCA's established verification procedures;
• Personally identifiable information of others without authorization;
• Sensitive images or files that include nudity, abuse, or sexual content;
• Material that is unlawful, defamatory, violent, hateful, threatening, or exploitative.

7. Community Conduct Guidelines

We are committed to creating a safe, respectful, and mission-aligned environment for all users engaging through our interactive platforms. This includes forums, surveys, NGO feedback systems, volunteer portals, and any space where users can post or communicate.

By participating in our community, you agree to:

• Be respectful and constructive in all interactions;
• Refrain from harassing, threatening, bullying, or defaming others;
• Avoid using slurs, hate speech, or discriminatory language;
• Stay on-topic and avoid spamming, self-promotion, or solicitation;
• Report abusive behavior to our moderators via our secure online support form, available at https://www.stopchildabuse.org/contact/support. For other concerns or reports not related to community conduct, please refer to the contact information in Section 23 (Contact).

Stop Child Abuse reserves the right to restrict access, remove content, or suspend user accounts that violate these guidelines. Repeat or serious violations may lead to permanent bans and legal reporting, especially where child safety or hate speech is involved.

8. Educational Use of Content

Stop Child Abuse publishes educational and advocacy content that may be used by schools, researchers, nonprofit trainers, child protection professionals, and the media.

Unless otherwise marked, you may:

• Use downloadable reports, infographics, and teaching tools for non-commercial educational purposes;
• Share these materials in classroom settings, lectures, nonprofit events, and public forums, with attribution to Stop Child Abuse;
• Print or display content for informational use, provided no modifications are made.

You may not:

• Modify, alter, or republish materials without written consent;
• Translate content for redistribution;
• Use our content in commercial textbooks, paid webinars, or monetized courses without a license.

We reserve the right to revoke educational reuse permissions at our sole discretion. For media kits, licensing, or larger-scale educational distribution, contact our media relations team via the secure form at https://www.stopchildabuse.org/contact/media.

9. Donations and Payment Processing

Donations to SCA are processed through our approved third-party payment processors ("Payment Processors"). The specific payment methods we accept (e.g., credit card, digital wallet, cryptocurrency) will be displayed on the relevant donation page at the time of your transaction. Your use of any Payment Processor is subject to that processor’s own terms and conditions, in addition to these Terms.

By making a donation, you agree that:

• You are using an authorized payment method;
• All donations are final and non-refundable, unless otherwise required by applicable law;
• Your payment and donor data may be stored and processed by SCA and our Payment Processors for operational, legal, and reporting purposes, as further described in our Privacy Policy.

10. Privacy and Cookie Policy

SCA collects personal, technical, and interaction data through:

• Online forms;
• Cloudflare Analytics;
• Session and consent cookies.

A cookie banner is displayed in compliance with global privacy laws. Data use is governed by our Privacy Policy and Cookie Policy, which are incorporated herein by reference. Please review these policies carefully to understand our practices regarding your information.

11. Intellectual Property Rights

Unless otherwise stated, all content on the Site, including but not limited to text, graphics, logos, icons, images, audio and video clips, digital downloads, data compilations, software, research reports, infographics, survivor stories, tools, and educational materials is the intellectual property of Stop Child Abuse (“SCA”).

The structure, selection, coordination, and arrangement of all materials on this Site are likewise protected intellectual property of SCA. All right, title, and interest in and to the intellectual property contained herein is retained by SCA.

You may not copy, reproduce, republish, upload, post, transmit, distribute, or modify any content without prior written permission from SCA, except as explicitly permitted by these Terms, our Educational Use policy (Section 8), or under fair use exceptions permitted by law.

11.1 Copyright

All content on the Site—reports, videos, articles, designs, data visualizations, and platform tools—is owned by Stop Child Abuse (“SCA”) and protected under U.S. and international copyright laws. This is subject to the provisions for Volunteer-created IP in Section 5.

You may not reproduce, redistribute, adapt, or modify Site content without express written permission from SCA.

11.2 Trademarks and Branding

The name Stop Child Abuse, our logos, slogans, domain names, visual identities, and associated marks are trademarks or registered trademarks owned by Stop Child Abuse (“SCA”).

These marks may not be used—including in printed materials, digital platforms, campaigns, affiliate projects, or social media—without prior written authorization. Unauthorized use of the Stop Child Abuse brand or affiliated assets may constitute trademark infringement and may be prosecuted under applicable laws.

We reserve the right to revoke any previously granted brand usage permissions at our sole discretion, particularly in cases of brand misuse, misrepresentation, or violation of our mission.

For inquiries regarding brand usage, partner guidelines, or permission requests, please contact our branding team via the secure form at https://www.stopchildabuse.org/contact/branding.

We maintain brand usage agreements and will publish our Trademark Use Policy and Brand Guidelines at https://www.stopchildabuse.org/brand.

11.3 Fair Use Declaration

Stop Child Abuse exercises its rights under the U.S. Copyright Act's fair use doctrine (17 U.S.C. § 107) to use third-party news content and other copyrighted materials for purposes such as:

• Child protection advocacy (e.g., analyzing media coverage of abuse cases);
• Educational commentary (e.g., critiquing journalistic handling of minor identities);
• Nonprofit research (e.g., compiling statistical trends from reported incidents).

All such uses adhere to the four statutory factors:

• Purpose: Noncommercial, transformative applications advancing child welfare.
• Nature: Primarily factual news reporting rather than creative works.
• Amount: Excerpts limited to segments directly relevant to our analysis.
• Market Impact: No substitution for original news subscriptions or sources.

12. Third-Party Tools and External Content

This Site may include embedded content, third-party links, or data tools. SCA does not control or endorse external websites and is not responsible for their content, security, or privacy practices.

13. Third-Party Content and Copyright Policy

The Site may contain or display excerpts, summaries, links, or other references to content created by third parties ("Third-Party Content") for informational, educational, and advocacy purposes, as described in our Fair Use Declaration (Section 11.3).

Stop Child Abuse respects the intellectual property rights of others and has a formal policy for responding to claims of copyright infringement. If you believe your copyrighted work has been used on our Site in a way that constitutes infringement, please consult our Copyright Complaint Policy for information on how to submit a notice. Our Copyright Complaint Policy is incorporated herein by reference.

14. Disclaimers

The Site and all related content are provided “as is” and “as available.” We make no guarantees regarding:

• Accuracy, completeness, or relevance of content;
• Continuous, error-free operation;
• Suitability for any particular purpose.

You use the Site at your own risk.

14.1 Disclaimers Regarding Missing Children, AMBER Alerts, and Reporting Tool

The Site displays profiles of missing children and information from AMBER Alerts, and provides a tool for the public to submit information, all with the goal of aiding in the safe recovery of children. This functionality is subject to the following critical conditions:

• Source of Information: All information regarding missing children is republished from official sources, such as the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) and law enforcement agencies. SCA is not the originating source and does not conduct independent investigations.

• Our Reporting Tool:
  EMERGENCY INSTRUCTIONS: ALWAYS CALL 911 FIRST
  The reporting tool on this Site is NOT a substitute for calling 911 or contacting law enforcement directly. It is not monitored in real-time. If you have a sighting or any information that you believe requires immediate attention, your first and primary action must be to contact your local law enforcement or call 911.
  
  • Purpose: Our tool is designed to collect and forward supplementary, non-emergency information to the appropriate law enforcement agency or designated organization (such as NCMEC) handling the case.
  • No Guarantee of Transmission or Action: We will make a reasonable effort to ensure your report is transmitted. However, we cannot guarantee its delivery, the timeliness of its delivery, or that the receiving authorities will review it or take any specific action. Technical failures or other errors may occur.
  • Consent to Share: By submitting a report, you acknowledge and agree that all information you provide—including your personal contact details if you provide them—will be shared with law enforcement and/or other child protection organizations.
  • Liability Limitation: SCA’s role is limited to forwarding the information you provide. We are not liable for any damages arising from a failure or delay in transmitting your report, or for the action or inaction of any third party who receives it.
• Profile Accuracy and Takedown: We strive to update case statuses (e.g., "recovered") within approximately four (4) hours of official notification but cannot guarantee real-time accuracy. Families or originating agencies may request profile removal by contacting our dedicated response team through the secure form at https://www.stopchildabuse.org/contact/missing-child-report.
• General Liability (CDA § 230): In accordance with Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (47 U.S.C. § 230), we are not liable as the publisher for information provided by third parties (such as official alerts or tips submitted by other users) or for the misuse of this data by others.

15. Limitation of Liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law, SCA and its affiliates shall not be liable for:

• Indirect or consequential damages;
• Loss of data, reputation, or income;
• User-submitted content;
• Acts of third-party service providers or affiliates.

16. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify and hold harmless SCA, its officers, staff, and affiliates from any claims or liabilities arising out of:

• Your use of the Site;
• Your content submissions (as a general user);
• Your breach of these Terms or, if applicable, your Volunteer Terms in relation to your use of the Site.

17. Termination

We may terminate or restrict your access at any time for violating these Terms, your Volunteer Terms (if applicable), presenting a security risk, or engaging in misuse. The following provisions survive termination: Sections 1.1, 2.2, 3.1, 5, 6, and 8 through 23 inclusive.

18. Severability

If any provision of these Terms is found to be unlawful, void, or for any reason unenforceable, then that provision shall be deemed severable from these Terms and shall not affect the validity and enforceability of any remaining provisions.

19. No Waiver

Our failure to exercise or enforce any right or provision of these Terms shall not constitute a waiver of such right or provision.

20. Entire Agreement

These Terms, together with the Privacy Policy, Cookie Policy, Disclaimer and Affiliation Disclosure, and any other policies expressly incorporated by reference (and, for Volunteers, the Volunteer Terms), constitute the entire agreement between you and Stop Child Abuse regarding your use of the Site and, where applicable, the Volunteer Portal, and supersede all prior or contemporaneous understandings and agreements, whether written or oral, regarding such subject matter. For Volunteers, the Volunteer Terms govern specific aspects of the volunteer relationship.

21. Assignment

Stop Child Abuse may assign its rights and obligations under these Terms, in whole or in part, to any party at any time without notice to you. You may not assign your rights and obligations under these Terms without our prior written consent.

22. Dispute Resolution and Arbitration

Any dispute, claim, or controversy arising out of or relating to these Terms, your use of the Site, or your interaction with Stop Child Abuse (including as a Volunteer, to the extent not exclusively governed by a dispute resolution mechanism in Volunteer Terms) shall be resolved through binding arbitration conducted in accordance with the rules of the American Arbitration Association (AAA), and held in Washington, D.C., United States. You agree that arbitration shall be your sole and exclusive remedy, except where Stop Child Abuse seeks injunctive or equitable relief in a court of law to protect its intellectual property, ensure the safety of children, or enforce its brand.

This clause does not limit Stop Child Abuse’s ability to bring claims against third parties, including governmental, institutional, or corporate actors, in pursuit of its advocacy mission or the rights of children and survivors.

By agreeing to these Terms, you waive your right to a jury trial and to participate in class actions. All arbitration proceedings shall remain confidential to the extent permitted by law.

23. Contact

Stop Child Abuse
1317 Edgewater Dr #960
Orlando, FL 32804, USA

General Inquiries: https://www.stopchildabuse.org/contact

Legal Notices & Copyright Agent Correspondence: https://www.stopchildabuse.org/contact/legal

Website: https://www.stopchildabuse.org