Research and Identify Trainings
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…
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Home / Sustainability / What is Sustainability?
Long-term organizational change is a process of continuous review, evaluation, and communication. It includes regularly examining what is working and what requires improvement at your Youth-Serving Organization (YSO).
At minimum, Sustainability includes:
An organizational culture focused on the shared responsibility of all staff and volunteers to ensure child safety and transform policy into practice. Leadership should continuously highlight the importance of staff and volunteers’ accountability to uphold a culture of child safety. In order to transform policy into practice, leadership must hold themselves accountable as well and set an example for the rest of the staff and volunteers.
Managing and monitoring ongoing implementation of child sexual abuse prevention plans at your organization. Examine plans to check if your organization is continuously applying these safety methods. Conduct audits and other evaluations to ensure your current child abuse prevention strategy is effective by addressing its strengths, challenges, and necessary adjustments.
Ongoing communication from leadership on the effort and commitment to keep kids safe. Your organization’s pledge to keep children safe should be clear for all staff and volunteers. Incorporate discussions on abuse prevention during regular supervision, staff meetings, and professional development days, and make certain that staff and volunteers feel comfortable raising any questions or concerns regarding child safety.
Consistent collaboration, and communication with staff, volunteers, community partners and other stakeholders. Your organization should partner with other community organizations in order to strengthen child abuse prevention efforts. Collaboration with partners and stakeholders should be built to increase education and communication between your organization and your community.
An annual review of all policies and procedures and a comprehensive review of your overall prevention efforts every three years. Annually audit your organization’s policies and procedures and update where needed to improve performance. Every three years, complete a comprehensive evaluation of all prevention practices at your organization and conduct interviews with all stakeholders to determine if policy revision, restructure, or clarification is needed.
In order to uphold your organization’s mission of child safety, sustainability efforts should be put in place. These should include consistent communication with and from leadership and collaboration with stakeholders. Policies and procedures should be reviewed regularly in order to confirm they are up to date and effective.
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…
Code of Conduct
Your Code of Conduct is an essential tool to help you ensure the safety of the children and youth in your care, and prevent child sexual abuse.
Reporting
Staff and volunteers should have a detailed understanding of their responsibility to report child abuse and neglect. At your YSO (Youth-Serving…
Screening & Hiring
To determine what screening tools are most appropriate to use for a particular position and to ensure consistency in your screening protocols, we…
Monitoring Behavior
It’s essential for your organization to create a culture that supports speaking up if inappropriate, harmful, or reportable behaviors take…
Screening & Hiring
Your Youth-Serving Organization’s (YSO’s) hiring process should include basic screening measures for potential staff and volunteers through…
Sustainability
Change Can Be a Challenge “The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry.” So said the famed poet Robert Burns after ploughing his fields…
Screening & Hiring
Finding and retaining a qualified and diverse workforce is one of the greatest challenges for youth-serving organizations like yours. Given the…
Policies & Procedures
Your Policies and Procedures must be continuously referred to throughout the year. At a minimum, an annual review of all policies and procedures…
Reporting
Recognizing Abuse & Neglect The minimum required safety elements for you to prepare leadership, staff, and volunteers to recognize, respond…
Customized child sexual abuse prevention guidelines to meet the unique needs of any organization that serves children.
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