Assessing Risk to Help in Selecting Screening Tools
To determine what screening tools are most appropriate to use for a particular position and to ensure consistency in your screening protocols, we…
Home / Safe Environments / Safe Environment Strategies: Visibility
Whether or not you can control the design of your space, physical safety depends on your ability to continuously account for all the children and youth in your care. From this perspective, visibility is key to protecting children and youth. Being seen is the greatest fear of those who would bully, assault, steal from, sexually abuse, or otherwise victimize children. Therefore, you should take actions within your means to design, build, or adapt your existing spaces to maximize visibility; to minimize or eliminate space where children and youth cannot be seen; and to establish policies and procedures for access to and use of the space (when both on- and off-site). Those policies should include:
*Find more information on staff-to-child ratios from the American Camp Association, and the Massachusetts Afterschool Research Study Report.
Overnight trips present different challenges related to visibility. If youth are staying in hotel/motel rooms, policies and procedures should:
Screening & Hiring
To determine what screening tools are most appropriate to use for a particular position and to ensure consistency in your screening protocols, we…
Sustainability
Leadership at Youth-Serving Organizations (YSOs) should maintain regular communication on the culture of safety with staff, volunteers, parents, and…
Training
Training Best Practices To protect the children/youth you serve, your organization needs a comprehensive framework: a set of abuse prevention…
Monitoring Behavior
Your Youth-Serving Organization (YSO) should develop a protocol to keep staff and volunteers accountable for their behaviors. Identify the…
Code of Conduct
Leadership at your Youth-Serving Organization (YSO) should implement the Code of Conduct by including it in many aspects of the organization. The…
Screening & Hiring
A personal interview provides an opportunity for you to meet applicants and determine if they are a good fit for your organization. It’s also a …
Training
Your organization has the opportunity to support and empower young people to feel confident, protected, and safe in their homes and communities….
Screening & Hiring
Finding staff and volunteers you can trust to work with children includes additional steps beyond interviewing and checking references. …
Reporting
The “Protective Intake Policy” framework was designed “to clearly articulate a primary and immediate focus on child safety in screening and…
Sustainability
Community interaction and involvement is important in maintaining a culture of safety surrounding your Youth-Serving Organization (YSO). In order to…
Customized child sexual abuse prevention guidelines to meet the unique needs of any organization that serves children.
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