Resources
Suggested information for a church bulletin:
We, the Child Abuse Prevention (CAP) Team
in our parish, have recently completed training in a program called "Protecting
God's Children" - a program selected by the Archdiocese for educating
parish adults on ways to prevent child abuse and create safe environments
for children. The program consisted of classroom presentations, and printed
and video-taped materials that focused on the prevention of abuse and the
protection of children. Among other things, we were educated in ways to
recognize the signs and symptoms that indicate a child is being abused
or exploited in some way, environmental factors to be aware of in the physical
space of the parish, how abusers operate, things parents can do to help
educate their children about how to respond to inappropriate adult behavior
toward them, and many other areas. We also received a presentation from
the Department of Social Services and the District Attorney's Association
on the responsibilities and procedures to follow when making a report of
suspected child abuse.
Our responsibility as a CAP team is to train
the staff, employees and volunteers in our parish, and to advocate for
and be an ongoing resource to the parish community in child protection
issues. We invite you to attend (either a mandatory meeting - in the case
of staff, employees or volunteers - or an informational meeting in the
case of parishioners) on what we learned. The session will be 3-4 hours
in length and will start at: (time) on (date). Refreshments will be provided.
Please call _____________ at #____________ if you have any special needs in order to attend the session.
Signed by the CAP Team members:
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