Screening Toolbox: National Criminal & Sexual Abuse Background Checks
Certain organizations, such as public schools and licensed childcare programs, must also query national criminal record and fingerprint-based…
Home / Safe Environments / 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 were provided. Today, the environment extends beyond physical spaces into the virtual realm—a world that lacks geographic and physical boundaries. Electronic and social media have become a significant part of everyday life—especially for children and youth. In just a few years, they have profoundly changed the nature of communication, and are already a preferred means of communication among children and youth. Undoubtedly, new social media technologies, tools, and devices will continue to expand in type and grow in sophistication and usefulness.
The skills learned in social networking—such as cooperation, collaboration, the management of information, organization, and communication—are key skills for children and youth as they seek future employment and prepare for professional work in our totally connected world. At the same time, social media can and has been misused and employed to facilitate communication among youth and between adults and youth in inappropriate ways that violate boundaries and lack the standards of visibility or accountability. The 24/7 nature of social media communications blurs many boundaries as our formerly private spaces become more public—and questions of liability for organizations like yours cannot be ignored. That’s why your efforts to build a safe environment must take the cyber-environment into account.
Your organization should consider adding social media policies or statements to your safe environment frameworks, including these elements:
Screening & Hiring
Certain organizations, such as public schools and licensed childcare programs, must also query national criminal record and fingerprint-based…
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…
Screening & Hiring
Here’s how you can develop a screening policy that fits your organization’s role, size, and resources: Know the screening rules and…
Reporting
Mandated reporters are required to immediately report suspicions of child abuse and neglect to the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families…
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…
Safe Environments
Along with site safety, visibility issues, physical access, and security procedures, supervision is a critical aspect of creating and maintaining…
Training
Staff and volunteers must be trained on child abuse prevention, including the signs and symptoms of child abuse. In order to identify and vet these…
Sustainability
Depending on the size of your youth-serving organization, the data you’ll need to collect and analyze—or even simply summarize—could be…
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
Your Code of Conduct will provide your staff, volunteers, and others responsible for children and youth with very specific guidelines that will…
Customized child sexual abuse prevention guidelines to meet the unique needs of any organization that serves children.
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