Criminal background checks and/or vulnerable sector checks are only one step in the screening process.

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?

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.

Have you heard me say that, “we will buried alive in paperwork as administrators of abuse prevention and protection”? Today, I thought I’d answer some of your most pressing questions about documentation and electronic documentation.

Why should you keep documentation permanently?

There are many reasons we should be securely managing our documentation.

• Statute of Limitations – in all provinces and territories in Canada and in many States, there is no statute of limitations on child abuse;
• A means of demonstrating due diligence;
• A means of striving for excellence, integrity and accountability for your leadership and the Board;
• To document history within the organization;
• For insurance purposes;
• To demonstrate your duty of care to your participants, staff and volunteers;
• It protects volunteers, staff and your organization if there is ever a false allegation; and
• It protects the vulnerable sector.

What documentation should we be keeping?

To demonstrate our due diligence and duty of care, we should be keeping:

Unfortunately, we have heard too often of individuals who obey the law and make a report, only to be told they shouldn’t have reported, or are reprimanded for reporting.  I heard about one staff member that was preparing for a volunteer training event.  She had brought her preschooler with her while she was setting up the chairs and tables for the training.

She took her eyes off her daughter for a few minutes and a member came into the building and sexually abused the young child.  When the mother found out about it, she reported it to the Police and to leadership.  Leadership challenged her for reporting the abuse and said that it should have been handled internally not externally.  When she disagreed, they gave her notice that her employment was coming to an end.

Over and over I hear stories of people being shunned, scolded, harassed and even fired for reporting abuse.  I find it so alarming that organizations that are committed to the protection of children, turn on the Chair of their protection committee, and reporters when they feel they have a legal duty to report abuse.

Never is our commitment of protection tested as much as when someone feels called to report, and we have a choice to support the reporters.

Training does not need to be boring, training does not need to be just a lecture, training does not need to be just reading a policy - and it shouldn't be! And, yes training is critical in ensuring everyone understands your policies and procedures and to ensure your staff and volunteers are all on the same page.

This year marks a special anniversary for Canada, as we celebrate our 150th birthday as a Nation. In honour of the occasion, we wanted to do a shout out to Canadians for their efforts protecting the vulnerable sector over the last 50 years.

At Plan to Protect®, we are very concerned about this issue! We’ve decided to provide you with an unprecedented preview of part of our policy on the Reporting and Response section of our manual. Please consider adopting this policy statement for your organization!  We only ask that you reference the source if you use it. 

We all know young people use text, web and various social messaging channels to communicate directly and privately with friends, family, staff members and volunteers in trusted organizations they are a part of.

I have young adult children, and I know they do most of their communication via text and social media.  When my children created a profile on Facebook, I joined Facebook. When they signed up for Twitter, I was soon to follow. 

One of the reasons I joined was, if it was important to them and they were talking about it, I also wanted to experience it. With my children now living internationally, I am able to stay in touch with them in real time, able to share pictures and get tidbits of news.