What’s in a Child Protection Policy?
Policies for youth-serving organizations in Massachusetts should clearly identify the duties and responsibilities of all staff, reflect both Federal…
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Home / Training / The Value of Training in YSOs
Your organization has the opportunity to support and empower young people to feel confident, protected, and safe in their homes and communities. Since they collectively share the responsibility for preventing child sexual abuse, your staff, volunteers, parents, and young people need the information and skills to confidently create safe environments for children/youth. While the scope of training must be adapted to your organization’s size and unique characteristics, the universal goal of maintaining safe environments for children/youth is attainable—regardless of your organization’s mission, culture, or resources.
By providing comprehensive training to your staff and volunteers, you’ll let potential offenders know you’re keenly aware of the threat of sexual abuse, are committed to talking about it, and are capable of confronting and exposing anyone who abuses or attempts to exploit children/youth. You’ll also send the important message to victimized children and youth that they are not to blame, but are heard, believed, and supported, and you can serve as a model and resource for parents and communities to take positive action.
Policies & Procedures
Policies for youth-serving organizations in Massachusetts should clearly identify the duties and responsibilities of all staff, reflect both Federal…
Screening & Hiring
One way you can help prevent child sexual abuse within your organization is by screening out those at risk to cause harm—before they are hired …
Training
Effective abuse prevention training provides learners with new information, knowledge, and skills. Your leadership is critical to the ways in which…
Reporting
Sometimes, a child/youth might self-disclose an abusive situation to an adult in your organization. These disclosures can be direct, where the child…
Monitoring Behavior
Develop a culture of child safety at your Youth-Serving Organization (YSO) using your Monitoring Behavior protocol that includes leadership-driven…
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
Because the internet and social media are a rich source of information about prospective candidates, and social media is perceived as a forum in…
Reporting
The term Human Trafficking is used by Department of Children and Families (DCF) as an umbrella term used to include two specific allegations of…
Screening & Hiring
If a criminal record is discovered, its existence alone does not necessarily automatically disqualify a candidate from employment or volunteer…
Training
Ideally, all children/youth should receive training and education on issues of personal safety and abuse prevention. However, not every organization…
Customized child sexual abuse prevention guidelines to meet the unique needs of any organization that serves children.
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