“Stop It. Don’t Pay for It.” My English friend Rob Cayless was stunned by yet another abuse settlement.

Days later, came the largest in U.S. history: LA County approved a $4 billion payout for sexual abuse in juvenile facilities.

“It’s a bad stain on the county,” said Supervisor Hilda Solis, recalling the now-closed children’s shelter where a child was once found molested and murdered on the floor of an office. “The system has been too lax.”

Too lax? There’s no room for laxity when children are in your care. Stop it.

In discussing what steps can and should be taken to avoid a repeat of the systematic abuse of children in the county's care, the supervisors stressed the need to hold both employees and department heads more immediately accountable if there's confirmed wrongdoing.

If an organization confirms abuse, it has already failed.

LA County may have the largest settlement in history, but abuse is common. Most abuse settlements never make headlines. Increasingly, claims are resolved quietly, without ever reaching a courtroom.

Attorneys document the abuse, point to the organization’s failure to maintain an effective alert system—as required by law, endorsed by law enforcement, and expected by every parent.

With no defense, there’s no trial—just a check. Churches, schools, and other nonprofits are advised to ask their donors to fund the settlements.

Stop it, not pay for it.

Abuse isn’t just a tragedy—it’s a systems failure. The first step in protecting people, especially the vulnerable, is implementing a real, effective alert system.

Guardian^SM is that system. The most effective.

Stop it. Put Guardian^SM to work.