Sample Policies & Procedures
Sample Policies & Procedures You can find examples of policies and procedures from organizations whose mission is to serve and protect…
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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:
Policies & Procedures
Sample Policies & Procedures You can find examples of policies and procedures from organizations whose mission is to serve and protect…
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 …
Policies & Procedures
Sample Self-Audit Form for YSOs You can use the following “Self-Audit” form to take an inventory of your youth-serving organization’s abuse…
Policies & Procedures
Whether your organization is evaluating an existing policy or creating a new one, we’ve provided a convenient Child Sexual Abuse Prevention (CSA)…
Monitoring Behavior
Monitoring and responding to inappropriate behavior is a part of the job of every individual involved in your organization. It means observing…
Reporting
Staff and volunteers at the YSO (Youth-Serving Organization) should be proficient in discussing abuse and responding to disclosures of abuse. YSO…
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…
Reporting
Visit the website, Massachusetts Department of Children & Families Locations to find contact information for your local office and see…
Screening & Hiring
Start with Basic Screening It is very important that all applicants who provide direct services and who are seeking positions of trust—either…
Policies & Procedures
No matter how large or small a youth-serving organization is, or what services it provides, every organization shares the desire to keep…
Customized child sexual abuse prevention guidelines to meet the unique needs of any organization that serves children.
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