Why Create a 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 …
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 / 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.”
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 …
Training
Training should be used to increase knowledge and awareness of child abuse prevention, to teach staff about responding to children who disclose…
Reporting
Who Are Mandated Reporters? Massachusetts law defines a number of professionals as mandated reporters (for the full list, see MGL Chapter 119,…
Code of Conduct
Once your Code of Conduct is in place, it’s important to implement it through training and by disseminating the information widely, in a variety…
Sustainability
Community interaction and involvement is important in maintaining a culture of safety surrounding your Youth-Serving Organization (YSO). In order to…
Screening & Hiring
Finding staff and volunteers you can trust to work with children includes additional steps beyond interviewing and checking references. …
Safe Environments
Ensuring a safe environment for children includes targeting the five major areas of safety: visibility, access, supervision and communication,…
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…
Monitoring Behavior
It’s essential for your organization to create a culture that supports speaking up if inappropriate, harmful, or reportable behaviors take…
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…
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.