Building a Culture of Prevention
You can help protect the children you serve by maintaining an environment that prioritizes both preventing child abuse before it occurs and—since…
Home / Safe Environments / What are Safe Environments?
Ensuring a safe environment for children includes targeting the five major areas of safety: visibility, access, supervision and communication, transportation, and safe technology use.
At minimum, your Safe Environment must include:
Adapting the physical space to create clear sightlines, where all areas are observable, unused areas are secured, and safety rules are posted publicly. Design or modify spaces to ensure children can be seen at all times. Unused spaces should be locked, secured, and monitored. Signage should direct children and others away from those areas.
Procedures are in place to control and monitor access, and all individuals entering the site are identified and verified. Visitor policies should be implemented to ensure the safety of children both on and off site. Access to the site should be restricted to those affiliated with the YSO and whose identify has been verified. Additional policies will need to be in place to protect children during off-site or overnight activities.
A clear understanding by all staff and volunteers about who is responsible for each child at all times. The YSO should follow appropriate staff-to-child ratios to ensure all children are monitored properly. All entry and release procedures must be followed, and children should be signed in and out by a authorized adult.
Continuous enforcement of Your Code of Conduct. Refer to your Code of Conduct often to ensure child safety. Ensure all one-on-one interactions at your YSO are observable and can be monitored or interrupted.
Procedures to ensure safe use of bathroom, changing, and showering facilities (if applicable) are adopted and followed. Maintain clear guidelines and expectations for staff or volunteers that have access to bathrooms, showers, and changing facilities. Clearly define and discuss procedures for children needing assistance in any of these facilities.
Your YSO should develop and maintain safe physical spaces with a clear line of sight for children. Certify that staff, volunteers, and others granted access to the site understand their responsibilities related to child safety. Policies should be put in place to guide staff and volunteer interactions with children on and off-site.
Reporting
You can help protect the children you serve by maintaining an environment that prioritizes both preventing child abuse before it occurs and—since…
Reporting
Visit the website, Massachusetts Department of Children & Families Locations to find contact information for your local office and see…
Screening & Hiring
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Safe Environments
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Training
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Monitoring Behavior
Develop a culture of child safety at your Youth-Serving Organization (YSO) using your Monitoring Behavior protocol that includes leadership-driven…
Screening & Hiring
Your Youth-Serving Organization’s (YSO’s) hiring process should include basic screening measures for potential staff and volunteers through…
Safe Environments
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Training
Your organization has the opportunity to support and empower young people to feel confident, protected, and safe in their homes and communities….
Code of Conduct
Leadership at your Youth-Serving Organization (YSO) should implement the Code of Conduct by including it in many aspects of the organization. The…
Customized child sexual abuse prevention guidelines to meet the unique needs of any organization that serves children.
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