“Each day of our lives we make deposits in the memory banks of our children.” Charles Swindoll

One of the biggest decisions we have to make during our lives is whether or not we will become parents.  For some, this was a no-brainer - What do you want to be when you grow up?  A mommy, or a daddy!

When we had children, did we ever anticipate that we would be bringing children into a COVID world and needing to protect them not only from predators, allergens, childhood illnesses, but also pandemics?

Today, desperate parents are trying to make the decision as how best to educate their children in a COVID world?  Everyone has an opinion as to what is best for your child.  Even your child has an opinion. 

The options most parents are faced with are, sending their children back to daycare and school, school by internet at home or at a caregivers, learning pods, or homeschooling.

The tension of making this major decision is causing parents everywhere to panic. 

Arguments fill the room and phone lines with tension.

Our emotional and mental states are in the danger zone.

Your children are bored.

The virus still is waiting to find another victim.

The clock is ticking down.

Your employers are growing impatient for you to either return to work or to be less distracted.

Child abuse is on the rise.

OK – time out!  Take 5.  Breathe …. Breathe deeply.

“Female karate teacher sends nude photos to 11-year-old student and invites him over to her house for sex.”

“Youth pastor accused of sending sexual texts to 15 year old.”

“Camp Director sends inappropriate snapchat messages to campers.”

“Teacher sentenced for texting student thousands of times.”

...

As we gather together to celebrate Christmas and the holidays, we are mindful that for many of you, this is really a busy time of year. Whether you visit shut-ins, serve meals, hold special services, dress up as Santa and give gifts, you are spreading joy. Your generosity and warmth will be felt by many. Thank you for the investment you make in sharing Christmas joy, love, and hope with others.  

At Plan to Protect ®, we want to wish you a very Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah! We hope you have a very joyful holiday. We are so grateful for your partnership and business!  

Speaking of which, many of you have partnered with us because of our commitment to help you reduce risk in your organizations and communities. Therefore, we want to remind you that the holidays are not cheerful for everyone. Families struggling to feed themselves today will likely struggle at Christmas. A child fearful of a parent or family member will probably still fear them during the special days of the year. Possibly even more so. Often more alcohol than usual is flowing, which can intensify abuse, anger, and harm. 

This article was originally printed in the spring winter issue of  PROTECT .

Physical restraints have long posed an ethical dilemma in mental health services in North America. On one hand, they help prevent self-injury or harm to others. On the other, they can increase agitation, confusion, and distrust due to their coercive nature. What...

For the past six summers, I have been the Sports Camp Coordinator for a week-long day camp.  Each year, we have approximately 60 campers ages 7 to 12 years old participating in various sports, including soccer, ball hockey, basketball, volleyball, as well as many large group games – all on varying terrain.  With the heightened...

I was recently interviewed by Faith Today magazine and they asked, “how many organizations and churches have a plan to protect?” 

My hope is that every organization and church that serves the vulnerable sector, would have some sort of a plan to protect but not all plans are the same, nor do they all adhere to the same standard.

As we review and customize hundreds of policies and procedure manuals a year, we see such a wide variety of policies including:

• Policies which range from one page to 500 pages; 
• Policies which addressing only sexual abuse, to policies that cover all types of abuse and neglect; and
• Policies which are designed only to protect children, to policies that protect all vulnerable persons.

Plan to Protect® was first written in 1996 and our desire has been and continues to be to provide the HIGHEST STANDARD of protection and abuse prevention. However, in the last 22 years Plan to Protect® has gone through many updates and revisions.  For example, we’re now on our third significant edition of the manual - please ensure your Plan to Protect® published manual was written after 2010 to make sure you have the most up-to-date one.

We are often asked if schools follow the same standard of protection that Plan to Protect® recommends.  Often the standards schools follow are the objections that Board members and leaders use to refute the best practices that are laid out in policies and procedures.  How safe are our schools?

Who do you reach out to when you need care and support?

Last week I was interviewed by a young journalist from Huffington Post and asked why victims of child abuse reached out to clergy to disclose their abuse. The interviewer was writing in response to recent disclosures of abuse: #MeTOO and #ChurchTOO.

As I responded to the questions, I thought of many individual cases of abuse where each individual disclosed their abuse to someone they trusted. Some of the names have been changed to protect the victims.

Rapid changes in youth culture and communication can make it hard for adults to know how to teach youth how to build and create healthy relationships. That's one reason why Southwestern Ontario YFC/YU prioritizes consistent training about abuse prevention...

This hasn't hurt staff and volunteers' ability to build good relationships with students, said Deller. Students may wonder sometimes why a staff or volunteer can't give them a ride alone, butthey understand when staff and volunteers explain the safety reasons for it. These are the same reasons why staff and volunteers give students side hugs or fist pumps instead of letting them sit on their laps or giving them hugs.