Step Nine: Educate children about personal safety

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No child abuse prevention plan is complete without a plan to reach out to the youth of the church with education. With education, youth are more likely to know when something is wrong. They will feel more empowered to disclose abuse and get…

Step Ten: Review and maintain your child protection program

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A program is only effective when it is followed and evaluated. Once you have child abuse response and prevention protocols and policies in place, create a plan to review the program regularly. Evaluation Regular evaluation of the church’s…

Step Eight: Create guidelines for responding to abuse

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Learning that a child has been abused while in the church’s care is a stressful situation, making good decisions more difficult to make. Churches with pre-established protocols have a road map to follow. This ensures that the response to abuse…

Step Seven: Support abuse survivors

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More than one out of four people have experienced or are currently experiencing abuse, yet over half of all Protestant pastors do not know of any survivors of abuse in their church. This is concerning. Abuse can have huge spiritual consequences,…