Recognizing Abuse & Neglect
Recognizing Abuse & Neglect The minimum required safety elements for you to prepare leadership, staff, and volunteers to recognize, respond…
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Although Safe Kids Thrive emphasizes the prevention of child maltreatment by taking steps to create an environment that protects the children in your care, at the same time, you must be ready to recognize child abuse if it occurs—and respond immediately, appropriately, and effectively. The statistics around abuse are telling: No matter what your youth-serving organization (YSO) looks like or what prevention strategies you implement, it’s possible that at least some of your participating children/youth have been or may be at risk to become victims of sexual abuse. That is why every administrator, manager, supervisor, employee, and volunteer at your YSO should understand what abuse looks like, how to respond to it, and how to get the help they need to stop it.
Ensuring the maximum protection for your children/youth requires increasing your staff and volunteer awareness, training them to recognize a child who may be in trouble, and informing them of their responsibilities under Massachusetts reporting laws and your own policies and procedures. Your leadership must then support your staff by creating a culture prioritizing child safety and abuse prevention, where all staff and volunteers are encouraged to come forward, concerns can be expressed and discussed without fear, and immediate, appropriate action is taken—including reporting the allegation, suspicion, or disclosure to those responsible for responding.
Preparedness to respond to and report abuse begins with establishing clear expectations in your Code of Conduct about the behaviors expected from your staff and volunteers when they are supervising or interacting with children/youth. Your written policies, training, education, and ongoing conversations with staff and volunteers should define appropriate, inappropriate, and harmful behaviors, and establish clear lines of communication, reporting, and actions staff or volunteers should take if they witness a situation or interaction that falls outside the boundaries of appropriateness. In this way, inappropriate behaviors or boundary violations with children/youth that were inadvertent or due to inexperience can be addressed through intervention, supervision, and monitoring—and corrected before they cross the line into harmful or abusive behaviors that must be reported. However, if the behaviors continue, a report may need to be filed with the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families (DCF).
It’s also vital that your YSO is prepared to recognize the behavioral and physical symptoms that children/youth exhibit when subjected to various types of maltreatment—and the behavioral characteristics of grooming that indicate an offender may be preparing a child/youth for eventual sexual contact.
If your staff and volunteers understand and conform to the Code of Conduct, it makes the behaviors of those who do not feel the rules apply to them easier to notice. In addition to recognizing the symptoms of the various types of abuse, YSO staff may become aware that a child is being maltreated or abused because another child or adult points out the signs or symptoms, or otherwise indicates a child is at risk. The child may also self-disclose the alleged abuse—either directly to a YSO adult, or indirectly by describing the situation as happening to “a friend” and asking the adult for advice. Safe Kids Thrive also provides guidance about how to respond appropriately to a child who discloses abuse.
Safe Kids Thrive also provides guidance on the situations where a staff member/volunteer has suspicion or evidence that a child/youth is a victim of abuse—particularly sexual abuse—and what your YSO must do in response. We explain the Massachusetts mandatory reporting laws, how to make a report to the Department of Children and Families (DCF), and DCF’s responsibilities and possible responses. And we provide specific circumstances and resulting actions that should occur if alleged abuse is being perpetrated by someone within your YSO—either by a staff member or volunteer, or by another child or youth. We also address the emerging issue of child trafficking and some of its unique characteristics.
All employees and volunteers:
Clear, written procedures that provide step-by-step guidance on what to do if there are any concerns, allegations, suspicions or disclosures of abuse (current or historic)
A designated person (agent)/group/office whose role it is to receive reports of suspected, observed or disclosed abuse.
A clear reporting chain is identified that contacts (or assists reporters in contacting) DCF and/or law enforcement.
Clear guidelines on conducting internal investigations when the alleged perpetrator is an employee or volunteer in the YSO. This includes providing supervision and support to staff and volunteers following an incident or allegation, and a communication plan for parents/community.
Information/training about the issues of child-on-child and youth-on-youth abuse and human trafficking (sexually exploited child).
Determine and implement appropriate ways to inform YSO staff and volunteers about the signs and symptoms of child abuse and neglect, and make them aware of their responsibilities under Massachusetts law.
Determine the process by which the YSO will prepare staff and volunteers to respond to a child/youth who discloses abuse. Consider ways to encourage and support staff in coming forward to report child abuse that is suspected, observed, or disclosed.
Determine the YSO responses to allegations, suspicions, and disclosures of child abuse committed by individuals outside the YSO, and by YSO staff or volunteers. Include the specific cases of abuse committed by another child or youth, and child trafficking. Staff must understand the steps to follow in making a report—and to whom the report must be made.
Reporting
Recognizing Abuse & Neglect The minimum required safety elements for you to prepare leadership, staff, and volunteers to recognize, respond…
Reporting
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Reporting
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