Stakeholder Collaboration for Sustainability
Leadership at Youth-Serving Organizations (YSOs) should maintain regular communication on the culture of safety with staff, volunteers, parents, and…
Home / Screening & Hiring / Screening Toolbox: Marketing & Recruitment Materials
Finding and retaining a qualified and diverse workforce is one of the greatest challenges for youth-serving organizations like yours. Given the competition for support and staffing, you may be concerned about scaring people off with early discussions about background checks and screening. But balancing marketing with safety is easier than it sounds. In fact, clear statements about your commitment to keeping children safe can not only help deter applications from individuals who may pose a risk, but also appeal to the types of individuals you’re hoping to attract. It can provide you with a strategic advantage over other youth-serving organizations that do not undertake the same level of protection for the children and youth in their care.
Your safety-focused policies, procedures, and tools can also be attractive to employees and volunteers because these structures serve to protect them as well. Materials and statements on your website, job and volunteer postings, and advertising that demonstrate your awareness of child safety issues, express your serious commitment to safety, and describe the steps your organization takes to keep children from being harmed, will also be attractive to parents who seek out services or activities for their children.
Your recruitment and marketing materials should:
Here’s an example of the kind of statement you can make to express your organization’s commitment to safety in your materials:
“This organization is committed to the safety and wellbeing of all children and youth accessing our services. We have taken steps to educate our staff about the risks related to child sexual abuse, instituted policies and practices to protect children from the risk of child sexual abuse, and trained our staff and volunteers about proper reporting requirements.”
Sustainability
Leadership at Youth-Serving Organizations (YSOs) should maintain regular communication on the culture of safety with staff, volunteers, parents, and…
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…
Safe Environments
Safe Environment Strategies: Visibility Whether or not you can control the design of your space, physical safety depends on your ability to…
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…
Training
Effective abuse prevention training provides learners with new information, knowledge, and skills. Your leadership is critical to the ways in which…
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…
Safe Environments
Standards should be implemented to ensure safe physical spaces for children, such as clear sight–lines and visitor procedures. To ensure child…
Screening & Hiring
Your Youth-Serving Organization’s (YSO’s) hiring process should include basic screening measures for potential staff and volunteers through…
Safe Environments
Your youth-serving organization may provide transportation to children and youth—either on a regular or occasional basis. If you’re a larger…
Screening & Hiring
Screening means thorough reference and background checks, including review of criminal and sexual offender records, for all employees, staff,…
Customized child sexual abuse prevention guidelines to meet the unique needs of any organization that serves children.
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