Many believe that child sexual abuse can’t happen in their church or ministry, or that no one they know could be an abuser. This illusion of safety is often found in churches, schools, camps and mission services.
This illusion is dangerous to both the ministry and the children it serves. Sexual abusers find those places where the barriers of protection are lowest, where people are more trusting and where fewer barriers exist between service applicants and children. 
In our culture, barriers to entry tend to be lower in church and youth ministries. We help ministries ‘raise the bar’, and the first step is to better understand the problem.  When volunteers and staff members learn the facts, they are better able to protect children in their care.

Sexual Abuse Awareness Training is key in equipping staff members and volunteers to better understand the risk of child sexual abuse. Typically, our beliefs are shaped by our personal experience, the experiences of our friends and family and the media. For most of us, sexual abuse of children is not a reality we want to confront, so many of us choose to remain uninformed. Media coverage is incomplete, leaving us with an inaccurate picture of the scope, breadth or shape of child sexual abuse.
To better protect children in ministry programs, we must realize that the problem is significant and growing, and that abusers have no visual profile. We must be able to recognize predators behaviorally. Our Sexual Abuse Awareness Training  equips employees and volunteers with the 'eyes to see' the grooming process of an abuser and key indicators of child sexual abuse.

In ministry programs, we are responsible for the children in our care.
Screening employees and volunteers is key: how can we keep the Wolf out of the Sheep-Pen?  
Hiring and screening personnel must be trained to recognize red flags and high-risk indicators.

Silence and ignorance are the playground of the abuser. The Skillful Screening Process, combined with appropriate Criminal Background Checks, can encourage a sexual predator to ‘self-select out’ of employee or volunteer pools. These measures help prevent the abuser from having access to children through ministry programs.

Without effective implementation, a written policy is worse than useless—it can be harmful. From a legal standpoint, a written policy creates an internal standard that must be followed. When it isn’t followed, a written policy can create more problems than no policy at all. The answer isn’t ‘adopt no written policies’, rather, to adopt written policies that fit and reflect staff training and actual practices.

Where written policy is concerned, one size does not fit all. Policy picked up from the internet, borrowed from a contemporary or cobbled together is likely to fail. When the policy does not apply to a specific job description or responsibility, staff members and volunteers are unlikely to comply.
Policies and procedures must fit the ministry, and we offer policies by program type, with tips and assistance on customization for specific programs.

There is no ‘one size fits all’ Background Check, and there are some individuals in every program about whom you cannot afford to be wrong. Background Checks should be tailored to position; a staff member who will be working with children, students or Vulnerable Adults in a less structured or less easily supervised context requires a more in-depth screen. 

From a liability standpoint, the only scenario worse than NO protective measures in place is protective measures that aren’t followed. Periodically, ministry leaders should review Safety System elements, including Policies and Procedures, to ensure relevance. If policies are no longer relevant to the needs of the program, they should be updated. When new programs are added, policies must be modified to address  new risk in these programs.

We provide an online Control Panel that tracks all elements of the 5-Part Safety System. The Control Panel allows an administrator to monitor and track Sexual Abuse Awareness Training, Skillful Screening Training, MinistrySafe Institute Trainings and Background Checks, and can be set up with multiple access points to ensure smooth transition when an administrator leaves the ministry.