Further Considerations for Safe Environments
Safe Environments should be created by having clear sight lines, proper staff-to-child ratios, and safety standards for all personnel and…
Home / Policies & Procedures / Continuous Improvement of Your Policies and Procedures
Your Policies and Procedures must be continuously referred to throughout the year. At a minimum, an annual review of all policies and procedures should be conducted as well as a comprehensive assessment every three years. Ongoing consideration and revision guarantee that your policies are up to date with the broader circumstances in and outside of your Youth-Serving Organization (YSO).
Policies and Procedures remain effective when organizations:
Communicate your policies and protocols to all stakeholders, including parents. Policies and Procedures provide a means of expressing, in a public way, your organization’s ongoing pledge to keep kids safe from harm. All stakeholders, including parents and your community are made aware of the concrete steps your organization plans to take to protect children from harm.
Form community partnerships with local organizations to improve your child abuse prevention plans at your organization. Stakeholders include organizations providing similar services, child welfare agencies, and law enforcement. Any entity that works on behalf of the safety and security of children can be considered an important stakeholder with whom to collaborate on efforts.
Ensure staff and volunteers adhere to internal and external communication protocols when there is a suspected case of abuse. All staff and volunteers must be aware of their duties to report suspicions of abuse and neglect in a prompt manner. The names, contact information, and roles of staff who are designated to file reports are known to all.
Conduct an annual review and update of your policies, including Code of Conduct, Screening and Hiring, Reporting, Safe Environments, and Training. Continuous assessment of your current policies and procedures is necessary to remain effective. Leadership must coordinate these efforts and review the findings with all staff and volunteers.
Run a comprehensive assessment of your child abuse prevention plan every three years and include interviews with all stakeholders. In order to remain sustainable, your child abuse prevention plan must be continuously reviewed and revised. Ongoing communication with and feedback from stakeholders is crucial to keeping them engaged in your organization’s child safety plans and initiatives.
Your Policies and Procedures are the backbone of the initiatives to protect kids from sexual abuse. Your policies must be continuously referred and adhered to and reviewed to ensure they are up to date and effective at protecting kids.
Safe Environments
Safe Environments should be created by having clear sight lines, proper staff-to-child ratios, and safety standards for all personnel and…
Safe Environments
Standards should be implemented to ensure safe physical spaces for children, such as clear sight–lines and visitor procedures. To ensure child…
Sustainability
Long-term organizational change is a process of continuous review, evaluation, and communication. It includes regularly examining what is working…
Training
Once you have identified your training expectations and standards and have researched current and available local and national training, explore…
Training
Training Program Design Checklist Each youth-serving organization is unique, and each community has its own set of values, strengths, and…
Safe Environments
Physically safe spaces, with proper supervision, are required to maintain safety standards at your Youth-Serving Organization (YSO). Ensure policies…
Training
Training Best Practices To protect the children/youth you serve, your organization needs a comprehensive framework: a set of abuse prevention…
Monitoring Behavior
Monitoring Behavior is the responsibility of all staff to hold each other accountable for appropriate behaviors and to report inappropriate conduct…
Screening & Hiring
Because the internet and social media are a rich source of information about prospective candidates, and social media is perceived as a forum in…
Training
A Model for Evaluation: Kirkpatrick’s Four Levels of Training Every training course needs a method of collecting feedback to ensure a course is…
Customized child sexual abuse prevention guidelines to meet the unique needs of any organization that serves children.
Learning Center Registration
Sign up for an account and start your learning experience.
Free Online Assessment
Let us help you find out where to start.