Training Parents & Other Caregivers
Parents and other caregivers need to receive, at a minimum, the same level of prevention education as their child/youth. Parents can be strong…
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Home / Sustainability / Analysis, Review, and Self-Audits: Questions to Ask
“Mathematics” and “measurement” are words that send many of us scurrying for cover, but in the world of organizational change, numbers play an important part in helping you gauge progress toward your goal of keeping children/youth safe. Consider, for example, beginning a weight loss or fitness program. Without periodically collecting numbers like weight, inches, heart rate, and blood pressure, how would you determine if you were making progress toward the goal of better health? Numbers collected over time can tell us if we’re heading in the right direction and, once we (hopefully) reach the desired goal weight, waist size, or heart rate, sustaining the accomplishment into the future likely depends on continued, periodic measurement. The same can be said for the programs, changes, and goals that you set in place to keep children/youth safe.
The overall goal of Safe Kids Thrive is primary prevention: to create an environment that prevents child sexual abuse before it occurs. A second goal is that if a child/youth in your care becomes the target of sexual abuse, human trafficking, or sexual exploitation, they would know how to distinguish safe from unsafe touching and relationships, and what to do—including how to seek assistance from a trusted adult and report the abuse. A final goal is that, should child abuse or neglect be suspected, observed, or disclosed to any administrator, supervisor, staff member, employee, or volunteer, that individual would have the knowledge, information, and resources to report it to the appropriate organizational and civil authorities, according to the law.
With these goals in mind, as you invest time and effort to put a safety framework together, and seek to provide feedback to the organization, certain questions will naturally come up. We’ve included sample questions below that are “qualitative,” seeking answers that are more subjective, and “quantitative,” seeking objective information like numbers, percentages, and quantities that can help to gauge progress.
Data is the key to answering these questions, and to developing, implementing, and sustaining a successful child sexual abuse prevention framework. Data provide insights about the ongoing programs, how they are being integrated into your organizations, what is working, what is not working, and what needs to be improved.
Training
Parents and other caregivers need to receive, at a minimum, the same level of prevention education as their child/youth. Parents can be strong…
Screening & Hiring
For positions that specify an educational requirement, you should verify any credentials listed on the employment application by requesting and…
Reporting
Staff and volunteers should have a detailed understanding of their responsibility to report child abuse and neglect. At your YSO (Youth-Serving…
Code of Conduct
It’s easier to identify behaviors that may be intended to harm children and youth when all staff and volunteers see the Code of Conduct as …
Screening & Hiring
If a criminal record is discovered, its existence alone does not necessarily automatically disqualify a candidate from employment or volunteer…
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
Keep in mind that a Code of Conduct is limited; it usually refers only to the most common and expected behaviors staff/volunteers may encounter each…
Sustainability
In order to uphold a culture of safety at your Youth-Serving Organization (YSO), communication between leadership, staff and volunteers must focus…
Screening & Hiring
One way you can help prevent child sexual abuse within your organization is by screening out those at risk to cause harm—before they are hired …
Screening & Hiring
Finding and retaining a qualified and diverse workforce is one of the greatest challenges for youth-serving organizations like yours. Given the…
Customized child sexual abuse prevention guidelines to meet the unique needs of any organization that serves children.
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