The Guide: A Sexual Abuse Prevention Guide For Churches and Youth-Serving Organizations

Knowledge and awareness are by far the best defenses against sexual abuse. The leaders in your organization need to understand what sexual abuse is, be aware of the signs of abuse and grooming, and know what actions to take to keep children and young people safe.

This guide will show you:

1. How to screen potential employees and volunteers and ideas for good in-person interview questions

2. Guidelines for safe interactions between children and adults and what inappropriate conduct looks like

3. How to spot signs of grooming

4. Best practices for supervising behavior between youth and workers and how to create a safe environment for young people

5. How to handle suspicions or accusations of sexual abuse

6. How to go about setting up sexual abuse prevention training

The only way to keep the children and young people you serve safe is to be proactive about sexual abuse prevention. Your sacred responsibility is to create a safe environment by establishing strict guidelines about how employees and volunteers are selected to work with the youth in your organization and transparent policies that govern interactions between children/young people, and adults.

Take the steps to ensure that your organization is a happy and healthy place to come to. The children in your care are counting on you!