Monitoring Behaviors in Youth Serving Organizations

Staff members in Youth Serving Organizations (YSOs) share the responsibility of monitoring behavior. This ensures accountability for behavior, promotes a culture of safety, and helps staff understand when and how to report inappropriate behavior to leadership.   

At a minimum, monitoring behavior protocols include the following:  

Reference your Code of Conduct and Code of Ethics. Using the Code of Conduct can guide setting a standard for appropriate behaviors and interactions for any staff member with access to children in your organization. Referencing your Code of Ethics and your organization’s philosophy helps guide the behaviors and decision-making of your staff, volunteers, and participants.   

Strengthen staff mutual responsibility to hold themselves and each other accountable for appropriate behavior. Remind staff to view child safety as a priority, encourage questions, establish ongoing communication and offer support to build trust. Staff should be required to report observations and concerns to appropriate and designated leadership members.   

Provide regular training for all staff and volunteers on expected and prohibited behaviors and how to report concerns. Regular training for all staff and volunteers at your Youth Serving Organization is crucial in fostering a safe environment where people know expected and prohibited behaviors, as well as how to report their concerns to leadership. Training should be an ongoing and interactive process to ensure retention and understanding.   

Identify a team or staff member to take the lead in addressing ongoing child safety and serve as a resource for all staff. By identifying a dedicated team or individual staff member to take the lead on addressing ongoing child safety at your organization, you can ensure a consistent approach to protecting the children you are serving.   

Include leadership reinforcing expected behaviors, redirecting inappropriate behaviors, and reporting harmful behaviors. Leadership should model the kind of behavior that is expected by staff and volunteers in the organization. Leadership should use supervision and feedback to intervene and re-direct inappropriate behaviors, as well as report harmful behaviors.   

Monitoring Behaviors encourages open communication and feedback between staff, volunteers, and leadership at your organization. Involving all adults in these conversations helps ensure the safety of all children in your care. Visit safekidsthrive.org to learn more about Monitoring Behavior.