By Eric Spacek
Few situations can cause more upheaval for a worship community than when a child comes forward with allegations of sexual abuse against a staff member, volunteer, or another child in the congregation. After all, while people are attending your services or participating in your programming, you are responsible for their safety.
April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month and thus a good time to review how your worship facility protects children from sexual assault. Church Mutual’s 2022 “Risk Radar Report State of Volunteerism in America” showed that people’s expectations for how organizations prevent sexual abuse differs from what was actually being done.
In the report, respondents with children expected that 41% of organizations checked the sex offender registry before allowing an individual to work with children. In contrast, only 16% of volunteers surveyed say their organizations had taken this step. Similarly, they expected that 36% of organizations provided sexual abuse training and reported sexual abuse, while only 13% of volunteers reported receiving that training.
Are you taking steps to prevent sexual abuse in your organization? Here are five tips you may not have considered:
- Supervision and oversight should be provided at all times.
A child should never be left alone in a room with a non-related adult. A good rule to follow is requiring “two-deep leadership,” meaning there always needs to be at least two adults present with one or more children.
In situations where it’s not possible to have more than one adult available, there should be no less than three children present. This policy can protect children from potentially abusive situations, while also protecting adults from allegations of misconduct.
- Use more than background checks to screen staff members and volunteers.
According to David Finkelhor, director of the Crimes Against Children Research Center, less than 10% of sex offenders are ever criminally prosecuted. This means more than 90% of offenders have no criminal record to check.
While it’s certainly important to conduct background checks on all prospective staff members and volunteers, your steps to protect children should not end there. Before allowing someone to work with the children in your congregation, you should ask them to provide references who can attest to their character, and request they participate in an interview with several individuals in your organization.
- Make sexual abuse awareness training mandatory for any adult in your organization who works with children.
This training should include how to recognize the grooming process the steps a sex offender takes to prepare a child for inappropriate sexual conduct. Those steps include:
- Gaining access – By appearing kind and helpful, they gain the trust of other volunteers and staff members. They also may seek to communicate with the child both online and offline.
- Selecting a child – An abuser may seek out a child who is looking for extra attention, perhaps one from a single-parent home or who seems isolated from peers.
- Introducing nudity and sexual touch – They may “playfully” touch the child and make jokes about sexual topics.
- Keeping the victim silent – The child may feel like they cannot talk to others about their relationships with this adult, possibly due to feeling shame or embarrassment.
You need adults in your congregation who know what to watch for and, most importantly, know whom to tell when they notice something is not right. Your congregation should have at least one mandated reporter, whose job is to report child abuse to the police.
- Don’t be afraid to talk openly about the need to prevent child sexual abuse in your congregation.
Talking about preventing child sexual abuse does not mean children are not safe in your congregation. In reality, the more you talk about preventing child abuse, the safer children will be. Staying silent about sexual abuse issues could lead to a perception that you’re more likely to cover up any incident that may happen.
When training adults who work with children, you will be discussing scenarios that some may find uncomfortable. That’s okay it’s better to be uncomfortable at the idea of sexual abuse, than to be reacting to it after the fact.
- Create written policies that detail all your steps to protect children and adults.
While it’s important to talk about best practices for preventing sexual abuse, those practices need to be in writing to be truly effective. You should make those policies available to everyone in your congregation, not just those who work with children. You need to be upfront about everything you are doing to prevent sexual abuse and have documentation to prove it.
Also, be sure to talk with your insurance company about the details of your sexual abuse coverage. Despite your best efforts to protect children, situations can still happen, and you need a back-up plan.
The people in your congregation will feel better about your planning if you can show the steps your organization has taken to protect their children.
About the author
Eric Spacek is a seasoned Risk Management and Loss Control Leader currently serving at Church Mutual Insurance Company. With a robust background in the property and casualty insurance sector, Eric is dedicated to enhancing organizational safety and minimizing risks for employees, volunteers, and customers alike. He has successfully developed the EFFECT® approach to risk management, aimed at improving communication regarding risk exposures for non-profit organizations.
