This post is part of a continuing series about responding to claims of abuse within a youth-serving organization. The first two posts discussed assembling your team and general principles for the team to follow. This post discusses first steps in an internal investigation. In many ways, the first 48 hours after you hear of a…

In my last post, I discussed the team that you need to put together to help respond to claims of abuse within a youth organization.  Now, let’s discuss general principles that the team needs to follow. Develop a Plan, and Don’t Delay Abuse allegations are serious and need to be addressed right away. Don’t accept…

One of the side effects of awareness of child abuse is an uptick in claims within youth organizations. We have had numerous clients contact us with reports that they are facing such claims. Sometimes, the allegation comes as part of a new lawsuit, in which case the lawyers and court system handle the allegation. Many…

October is National Bullying Prevention Month, so we will hear a lot of ideas about how to prevent school–based bullying.  Unfortunately, evidence about those ideas is hard to find. The Department of Justice evaluated 13 programs and found only 3 of them to be proven effective. Of the remaining, 7 are promising, but still lack…

The University of Iowa and numerous employees are liable to a religious student organization for discrimination in violation of the First Amendment guarantees of free speech and freedom of association. A Court of Appeals affirmed the decision of a trial court to hold the University of Iowa and several of its officials liable for violating…

The Department of Justice has issued a scathing report about the FBI’s failures to investigate reports of sexual assault by Larry Nassar.  Although the report focuses on violations of FBI policies, it has some important lessons for youth serving organizations, specifically the importance of documenting events and seeking outside expertise. I do want to resist…

Anti-bullying programs get a lot of attention these days, because everyone wants to spare children the trauma of true bullying. Yet in spite of our best efforts, the problem is not getting better, and some experts worry that we are creating new problems for our kids. One problem is that, contrary to what many parents…

The recent USA Gymnastic and Catholic Church scandals illustrate the need for child protection policies in all organizations that serve young people. It is tempting to look for a policy that you can simply copy from another organization, and some companies will promise to sell you a policy that they have developed. Either route can…

Organizations often think of a child protection policy as a single self-contained document. The better practice is to include portions of the policy throughout your documents and communications. Potential employees, volunteers, and parents need to know from the beginning that you have a child protection policy and that you are serious about enforcing it. Start…

One thing that you must do in your program is criminal record and background checks of the adults working in your program. The specific details, however, can vary based on the needs of your program. Criminal Records Checks First, require criminal background checks for anyone working directly with children. The background checks rarely turn up…