What are Policies and Procedures?
Policies and Procedures are an essential backbone of your prevention strategy at your Youth-Serving Organization (YSO), providing an overarching…
Child sexual abuse is a difficult topic. If you find yourself triggered by any of the website’s content, please stop and take the time you need to talk with someone to get support. If you need help now, please contact one of these resources today.
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.
Policies & Procedures
Policies and Procedures are an essential backbone of your prevention strategy at your Youth-Serving Organization (YSO), providing an overarching…
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…
Safe Environments
How is Your Facility Designed to Keep Children Safe? Child development and school-age programs operate in many different types of facilities….
Training
Training Contractors, Consultants, and Interns When it comes to training your contractors, consultants, and interns, there is certain core…
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…
Sustainability
Open, Extensive Communication There are two keys to helping your organization change and sustain behaviors: the amount of communication that…
Monitoring Behavior
Develop a culture of child safety at your Youth-Serving Organization (YSO) using your Monitoring Behavior protocol that includes leadership-driven…
Training
Training Best Practices To protect the children/youth you serve, your organization needs a comprehensive framework: a set of abuse prevention…
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…
Screening & Hiring
A written application provides you with the information you need to assess the background and interests of applicants for your organization’s paid…
Customized child sexual abuse prevention guidelines to meet the unique needs of any organization that serves children.
Learning Center Registration
Sign up for an account and start your learning experience.
Free Online Assessment
Let us help you find out where to start.