Page 23 - 2018 Summer Employee Handbook

CLINTON TOWNSHIP RECREATION ACTION STEPS REGARDING SUSPECTED ABUSE
Step One
Contact your supervisor to set up a meeting to explain the situation and verify concerns. This meeting will involve all site staff, your zone supervisor and either the Director or Assistant Director. Fill out the Abuse/Neglect form and turn it into your supervisor.
Step Two
Once concerns are verified, the supervisor will make the call to the Child Protective Services Agency. If this call ends up being the first on record, a file will be started on the child’s behalf. Keep in mind that the first call to the Child Protective Services Agency is always anonymous. Follow up visits do not start until a second call is made. Supervisors must fill out an Abuse/Neglect form and turn into the Director and Assistant Director.
Step Three
All site staff should refer any and all questions or concerns from the family to the Director or Assistant Director.
SAFEGUARD TRAINING
Safeguard from Abuse online training is critical to your child safety program. You will better understand what Child Abuse is and how to prevent Child Abuse from occurring. Your child protection policy should include Safeguard from Abuse Awareness Training and Certification. Child Abuse can only be stopped by raising the awareness of all those who work with children and youth. When behaviors of a predator are recognized, they can be reported and hopefully end the cycle of child sexual abuse.
Child Safety Training, Risk Management, and Industry Compliance are vital to a successful youth serving organization. Safeguard from Abuse trains ministers, coaches, youth group leaders, and volunteers to spot the grooming behaviors of a child sex offender. While background checks are good, it isn’t enough to expose child sexual abusers. The powerful combination of background checks and child abuse awareness programs deter the sex offender from penetrating your organization.
Clinton Township Recreation Department has decided to take the next step in Child Safety by certifying our staff through the Safeguard from Abuse Training program. All staff members are required to go through training every 3 years through the department. You will receive a certificate of your training from the Recreation Department, upon completion of the training program and successfully passing the written test. All staff will be paid 1.5 hours for this training.
Misconception—“Stranger Danger!” Pedophiles are lurking around every corner looking to take children. Fact—More than 90% of abuse is by someone the abused knows. Only 10% of kids who are abused do not know their perpetrator.
Misconception—You can spot a child molester. They are creepy looking and usually drive a van with no windows. Fact—There is no visual profile of a molester. Predators can be from any walk of life. They can be married with children or unmarried, professional or unemployed, young or older. Basically, an abuser can be any race, class, religion, or age.
Misconception—All predators are men.
Fact—While most child sexual predators are men, there is an astonishing amount of abusers who are children themselves. There are also a small amount of women child sexual abusers.
U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics
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