How to Report Child Sexual Abuse
When a member of your staff suspects that a child is being abused and/or neglected, they are required to immediately call your local Department of…
Home / Safe Environments / Safe Environment Strategies: Access
Complementing the physical aspects of safety are the procedural aspects of safety and security, and how access to physical space—and thus to the children and youth you serve—is granted and monitored. All adults who enter the space occupied by your children and youth should have a purpose for being in that space, and a role that is understood by all its occupants. There should be control over access points and procedures for admitting individuals into the facility, verifying their identity, signing them in and out of the space, and badging or otherwise providing an outward sign of who they are (Parent, Visitor, Contractor, etc.). Likewise, once they’re inside the facility, the identity of supervisors, staff, and volunteers should be clear to all, so anyone will know whom to approach with a concern, question, or emergency should the need arise. Finally, all staff and volunteers should know which children and youth they are responsible for, and their whereabouts at all times. All children and youth should know which adult is primarily responsible for them and to whom they should go if they need something.
It may not be possible for you to control access to physical space during off-site activities. That’s why policies and procedures need to focus on ensuring the safety of the children and youth in your care, rather than controlling the public access and security of the physical site—which may be the responsibility of the host organization or facility owner.
Reporting
When a member of your staff suspects that a child is being abused and/or neglected, they are required to immediately call your local Department of…
Code of Conduct
Along with guiding appropriate behavior, your Code of Conduct should include a clear description of the lines of communication and reporting…
Training
Training should be used to increase knowledge and awareness of child abuse prevention, to teach staff about responding to children who disclose…
Safe Environments
Along with site safety, visibility issues, physical access, and security procedures, supervision is a critical aspect of creating and maintaining…
Sustainability
Long-term organizational change is a process of continuous review, evaluation, and communication. It includes regularly examining what is working…
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 …
Safe Environments
Standards should be implemented to ensure safe physical spaces for children, such as clear sight–lines and visitor procedures. To ensure child…
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…
Reporting
Sometimes, a child/youth might self-disclose an abusive situation to an adult in your organization. These disclosures can be direct, where the child…
Reporting
Thinking of children or youth as capable of sexually abusing other children or youth can be difficult to consider and challenging to address. In…
Customized child sexual abuse prevention guidelines to meet the unique needs of any organization that serves children.
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