Ongoing Evaluation and Feedback for Sustainability
Community interaction and involvement is important in maintaining a culture of safety surrounding your Youth-Serving Organization (YSO). In order to…
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Home / Policies & Procedures / What’s in a Child Protection Policy?
Policies for youth-serving organizations in Massachusetts should clearly identify the duties and responsibilities of all staff, reflect both Federal and Massachusetts abuse reporting laws, provide direction to employees, staff, and volunteers who wish to make a report, and define the internal mechanisms to be followed when a case of child abuse or neglect is suspected or being reported. When a crisis occurs, a clearly defined and recognized set of policies and procedures will make the process of reporting go more smoothly, thus helping to reduce the anxiety, any confusion, and reluctance of staff, and protecting children/youth more effectively.
Here’s a list of values that should guide the creation of your child protection policy.
With those values in mind, an effective set of abuse policies for youth-serving organizations should:
Introduce child protection organizational values and Policies and Procedures with all new staff upon hire as part of staff orientation, and review and update this information with all staff on an annual basis.
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