Establishing a First Line of Defense

Churches must take a proactive stance to protect their most vulnerable. Every day, predators work to gain authority and trust and use their access and control to victimize. The most effective way to prevent predators from entering your organization is to focus on establishing a first line of defense. This means creating high-level policies that help increase safety and guide the day-to-day protective measures.

To successfully stop predators, your abuse prevention policies, guidelines, and procedures should have two main objectives: reducing isolation and increasing accountability.

Predators seek separation, seclusion, and an environment that enables them to isolate their victims easily. To combat these behaviors, you need to make it difficult for an adult to be alone with a child and always have multiple sets of eyes watching over and safeguarding the children. This increases your chances of preventing an incident.

Abuse Prevention Methods to Establish

• Utilize a well-written Child Protection Policy. This is a set of guidelines on how you plan to protect and care for kids in your care. It helps ensure anyone who comes in contact with children has a defined set of working principles and minimizes the grey area regarding interacting with kids. It also provides a layer of protection for staff, volunteers, and adults.

• Craft an incident response and reporting process. Anytime an accident happens, an incident report should be completed. It should include details about the accident, including photos, treatment given, witnesses, and the steps that will be taken to prevent another occurrence in the future. The report should be completed by the person present when the accident occurred, and a copy should be shared with parents and the ministry director.

• Prioritize safety training and education. To perform their roles properly, staff and volunteers need to know and understand your child protection policy, health and wellness guidelines, the rule of two, bathroom procedures, and incident reporting. Think educate and re-educate. It’s not one and done. You want to continue to share this information periodically in bite-sized pieces.

• Establish a comprehensive screening process for adults and youth. It should include a written application, background check, social media review, references that you must follow up on, an interview, a motor vehicle report if transporting children, and an established waiting period. The screening process functions as a deterrent for would-be offenders, eliminates easy access to children, and brings to the surface need-to-know information about a person’s character, commitment, and history working with children and youth.

• Create a Speak Up Culture. One that encourages transparency & prioritizes communication. The concept is to create a culture that encourages staff and volunteers to raise concerns about bad practices or policy violations, without fear of getting in trouble or experiencing retaliation. It fosters transparency, encourages open dialogue, and demonstrates a commitment to being proactive rather than defensive. All of which makes it easier to address issues that might decrease child safety.

• Understand your state’s mandatory reporting. These laws require those who work closely with children to alert authorities to any suspected abuse. The law also states that failing to report abuse comes with penalties. Mandatory reporter laws vary by state, so you’ll want to refer to your government’s website for specifics.

• Consider implementing an annual family safety survey. It’s a great way to gather strategic information, identify changes in expectations, connect with families, learn what is and isn’t working for the day-to-day processes, and identify areas of improvement in child safety. Keep it short and include a section to get feedback from kids as well as parents.

• Make known your organization’s commitment to child protection. Being clear that child protection is a priority and taken seriously by your ministry can deter bad behavior. Potential predators are looking for easy targets; make it known visually and vocally that you are not.

While it’s essential to establish high-level policies, most abuse prevention success will come from consistently adhering to the day-to-day processes and guidelines, referred to as protective measures or tactics.

Protective Measures to Implement

• Use an established check-in and check-out system.

• Get comfortable with saying “NO.” Your responsibility is to the safety of the children.

• Complete a background check every 18–24 months on all adults working with and around children.

• Establish classroom expectations for discipline, appropriate touch, and bathroom procedures.

• Follow the Rule of Two, where two (unrelated) adults and two children are present at all times to increase accountability and decrease isolation.

• Determine appropriate classroom ratios.

• Create highly visible child areas.

• Never put a minor in charge of other minors.

• Keep good attendance records.

• Take children’s comments, feedback, and observations seriously.

While it’s impossible to eliminate 100% of abuse, taking steps to reduce risk intentionally goes a long way in deterring bad behavior and making it more difficult for predators to operate.

Angela Lewton is KidCheck’s child protection specialist. KidCheck provides secure children’s and youth check-in systems. Angela focuses on the latest child safety research and trends. She is passionate about equipping organizations to improve child safety.