How to Read This Report

The sections of this report describe for YSOs the steps the Task Force recommends they should take to build environments for children and youth that will help keep them safe from abuse – with a focus on preventing the sexual abuse and exploitation of minors. Since this report is intended for use by YSOs of varying sizes – some of which may have no prior experience with issues of child abuse and its prevention, or may have limited resources and personnel – each of the building blocks above is explained in detail. With the exception of Section 1, which is a general introduction to the concepts of building policies and procedures, each section that follows begins with an Executive Summary, a set of implementation guidelines, examples, toolkits, sample documents, forms and checklists, and a set of Key Findings and Recommendations. Also described are a set of “minimum required standards” that are based on best practices in child protection, and are intended to be used by YSOs as a starting point – both to measure their current safety frameworks – and/or to build new ones.

The guidelines also provide organizations with practical examples of steps they can take to implement the minimum standards, and to determine if a more comprehensive framework is needed.

A 3-step “Implementation and Decision Making Model” is then presented to help YSOs:

1. Determine how many of the basic, minimum safety requirements are in place;
2. Identify the risks, requirements, issues and questions leadership should consider to determine if additional safety elements may be appropriate based on their circumstances, activities and responsibilities, and;
3. Decide which additional safety elements beyond the minimum requirements are necessary to augment their existing prevention framework.

The 3-step Implementation and Decision Making Model is presented twice in the sections – once at the end of the Executive Summary, and then again at the end of the section itself. This is done to present the model to the reader as both an initial set of questions and concepts to think about while reading the section, and then later as a framework for decision making informed by the content and details of the section.

In these ways, it is hoped that all YSOs, no matter their size, function or constituency, will be able to build greater awareness of the issues of child abuse and neglect among their staff, volunteers, parents, and children and youth; evaluate their current safety protocols; and prioritize the methods and strategies they can use to keep their children safe.