Safe Environment Strategies: Technology
In the past, youth-serving organizations needed to worry about safety only within the physical environment—the building(s) where their services…
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Staff and volunteers should have a detailed understanding of their responsibility to report child abuse and neglect. At your YSO (Youth-Serving Organization), staff and volunteers should know when to report, how to report, and to whom the reports must be made.
To establish effective reporting outcomes:
Establish clear reporting policies and procedures and ensure they are reviewed by all staff at hire and at least annually. Create and disseminate clear policies and procedures on reporting at your organization. Staff and volunteers should be given an opportunity to look over reporting policies often.
Ensure all staff and volunteers are aware of how to make a report, whom to notify, how to complete required documentation, and adhere to confidentiality. All staff and volunteers should understand the entire reporting process, including the chain of reporting and how to write the report itself. In some cases, it may be beneficial to create a form for staff to record incidents.
Train all staff and volunteers on when, how, and to whom to report suspected abuse or disclosures of abuse. Leadership should discuss what kinds of behaviors or suspicions warrant reports. Staff and volunteers should be well-informed about the process of reporting suspected or disclosed sexual abuse.
Guarantee staff and volunteers understand their responsibilities to report under Massachusetts law and your YSOs internal protocols. Clearly communicate to staff their status and responsibilities as mandated reporters as well as the organizational reporting requirements and responsibilities of volunteers. Leadership should ensure staff and volunteers clearly understand their role in the reporting process in accordance with both legal and organizational standards.
Determine your YSO’s communication and public relations policy, including how to respond to allegations, and disclosures of abuse committed by any staff or volunteer. There should be a specified internal investigation (not to interfere with the DCF investigation or involve the alleged victim) and transparent communication process if a staff member or volunteer is reported as a perpetrator of harmful or inappropriate behaviors or sexual abuse. Leadership should determine policies impacting the community’s views of safety at their organization.
Knowledge and use of internal and external reporting policies, procedures, and protocols will provide better outcomes of safety for children at your YSO. Staff and volunteers must be aware of their individual duties and responsibilities for upholding safety and legal standards at the YSO.
Safe Environments
In the past, youth-serving organizations needed to worry about safety only within the physical environment—the building(s) where their services…
Code of Conduct
For your Youth-Serving Organization (YSO) to ensure the safety of the children it serves, there must be a set of principles to guide the environment…
Code of Conduct
Your Code of Conduct will be unique to your organization, based on your size, purpose, location, staffing, ages served, additional vulnerabilities…
Training
Training should be used to increase knowledge and awareness of child abuse prevention, to teach staff about responding to children who disclose…
Code of Conduct
Along with guiding appropriate behavior, your Code of Conduct should include a clear description of the lines of communication and reporting…
Reporting
Recognizing Abuse & Neglect The minimum required safety elements for you to prepare leadership, staff, and volunteers to recognize, respond…
Code of Conduct
Your Code of Ethics helps to guide the behavior and decision-making of your staff, volunteers, and participants by clarifying the standards and…
Policies & Procedures
Your Policies and Procedures must be adhered to by all staff and volunteers to maintain safety standards at your Youth-Serving Organization (YSO)….
Policies & Procedures
Sample Self-Audit Form for YSOs You can use the following “Self-Audit” form to take an inventory of your youth-serving organization’s abuse…
Code of Conduct
Once your Code of Conduct is in place, it’s important to implement it through training and by disseminating the information widely, in a variety…
Customized child sexual abuse prevention guidelines to meet the unique needs of any organization that serves children.
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