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The Church takes steps to prevent abuse!
Raise awareness and educate your congregation.
- Ask your minister to make the effects of abuse, and the church's
role in protecting children and other vulnerable persons, a topic
for sermons.
- Do a series of articles on abuse awareness, prevention and reporting
for your church newsletter.
- Devote a bulletin board to issues related to the church's role
in protecting children, youth, the elderly, and other vulnerable
persons.
- Host a community seminar.
- Hold parent education programs.
- Purchase books and videos about abuse prevention for your church
library.
- Produce or purchase flyers and brochures about local resources
and have them available in high traffic areas of your church.
- Double your efforts during April which is Child Abuse Prevention
Month in the United States and during October which is Promote
Violence Abuse Prevention Month.
- Do a written "Proclamation of Child Abuse Prevention Month".
- Teach prevention skills to people of all ages. Make especially
sure that children and youth know how to avoid potentially abusive
situations and how to recognize and report abuse.
Develop and implement policies and procedures
to protect children and youth and other vulnerable persons.
Policies and procedures need to cover all programs that serve minors
in your church building and through the programs of your church.
This includes nurseries, church school classes, children's church,
youth group meetings, outings and trips, choirs, daycare centers,
tutoring programs, after school and parents' time-out programs,
counseling sessions, etc.
Policies and procedures need to include:
- A statement about the importance of and need for the policy;
- Permission forms;
- Information about abuse, including word definitions and how
to report incidents of abuse;
- Job descriptions for children and youth program workers;
- Guidelines for those working with children and youth;
- A process for screening all workers (paid and volunteer) which
includes:
- Written application;
- Interview;
- Reference check;
- Criminal record check on any persons having unsupervised
access to children & youth.
(It will be very important to decide who will be responsible for
the screening process and how confidentiality will be maintained.)
Training programs which include:
- How to recognize symptoms and signs of abuse;
- Effects of abuse;
- How to report abuse;
- How to respond to the victim and the perpetrators of abuse.
Policies need to be adopted and enforced by the official governing
body of the church.
Official policies, if adopted and carefully followed will, first
and foremost, reduce the possibility of a child being abused in
your church. They will serve to help protect your church staff and
volunteers against being falsely accused of abuse. They will demonstrate
your church's commitment to protecting the children and youth entrusted
to your care. It should also be noted that a comprehensive child
abuse prevention program, that is actively followed at all times,
can also reduce your church's liability in the event that an allegation
of abuse is made. Please note that having an adopted policy and
failing to follow it may actually increase your church's liability.
For more information visit the Web
site.
The Rev. Kaye Edwards,
director of Family and Children's Ministries, is a native
of Paris, Ky., and a member of Greenfield Christian Church, Greenfield,
Ind.
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