Office of Child Advocacy, Implementation and Oversight

April is Child Abuse Prevention Month

April has been designated as Child Abuse Prevention Month by presidential proclamation. The observance seeks to raise awareness about child abuse prevention by educating individuals and communities about how they can help prevent abuse and neglect of children. Safe and healthy childhoods help produce confident and successful adults. Nationwide, annual reports show that staggering numbers of children are victims of child abuse and neglect - many at the hands of those who are supposed to protect them.

The Presidential Proclamation issued by President George W. Bush reads, in part: “The problem of child abuse requires a continuing national commitment, and we must remain vigilant in working to provide safety and security to each young person in our society. Government alone cannot prevent child abuse. Child abuse prevention requires partnerships among Federal, State, and local governments, faith-based and community-based organizations, schools, law enforcement, and social service agencies. All of these organizations must work together with parents to protect children and help build healthy families and communities where children can reach their potential.

Every April, communities across the country join to raise public awareness about child abuse, to provide information about how to prevent it, and to assist families in need of support, recovery, and encouragement. During National Child Abuse Prevention Month, and throughout the year, I encourage all Americans to find ways to cherish our children and strengthen our families. I call upon all Americans to observe this month by supporting the hard work of those who ensure our children's safety, and by playing an active role in creating a safer, healthier environment for our children's growth.”

The Archdiocese has committed itself to doing all we can to protect our children, and has implemented comprehensive training and education programs in both our parishes and schools. Over 8,000 parish volunteers, the overwhelming majority from among the laity, have been trained in the adult awareness and empowerment program “Protecting God’s Children” from October 2002 to the present. There has been tremendous enthusiasm and energy in the sessions that included videotape presentations about the problem of child abuse, and the steps we can take as a faith community to prevent abuse before it occurs. Representatives from the Department of Social Services and the Massachusetts District Attorneys Association have also given presentations on the requirements and the steps to report child abuse. Packets of information have been handed out that include all relevant phone numbers and contact information, as well as brochures from local child abuse prevention agencies.

These parish volunteers are now back at their parishes as “Child Abuse Prevention” (CAP) Teams and are in the process of training parish clergy, pastoral staffs, employees and volunteers about child abuse and its prevention, and functioning as local support to their communities. Many are also hosting parishioner “information evenings” to talk about what they learned, helping to make everyone in the parish more aware of the issues and more informed about the steps we can all take to create safe environments for our children. While this training sequence was going on, additional Protecting God’s Children training sessions were held for the bishops, priests and cabinet members, lay employees of the chancery and seminary, campus ministers, youth ministers, seminarians and men and women religious. More sessions are being planned.

Similarly, almost 500 principals, teachers, school nurses and guidance counselors have completed training in the personal safety curriculum for children in Kindergarten through Grade 4 called “Talking About Touching” (TAT). TAT is an award winning, nationally recognized program that teaches children safety, self-protection and assertiveness skills to reduce their vulnerability to harm and abuse, and encourages them not to keep secrets about unsafe touches, in an effort to support children in disclosing abuse unambiguously, should it occur. This program is designed to be taught in the classroom in thirteen to fifteen lessons. Topics include safety rules for riding in the car and responding in a fire, as well as handling inappropriate touching and responding to strangers. The program presents the concepts through a variety of media (i.e., video, story and audio cassette, poster) and involves discussion, skill practice, and transfer of training (e.g., classroom activities, take-home information sheets).

TAT is used in thousands of schools across North America; indeed it is one of the most widely-implemented personal safety programs in the country. And because family involvement is important to a child's safety, the TAT program extends into the home, encouraging parents to reinforce the skills that are taught in school. A parent-education video, “What Do I Say Now? How to Help Protect Your Child from Sexual Abuse”, is included in every TAT kit. Practical examples are also included to help parents respond appropriately to a child's disclosure of abuse. These 500 individuals are now back in their parish schools training other teachers in how to teach the curriculum, and are in the process of hosting “parent information evenings” to keep parents informed about the program prior to the curriculum being taught to the children.

Along with our education and training programs, the Office of Child Advocacy, Implementation and Oversight has helped to finalize policies and procedures for the protection of children and the prevention of child abuse, and has created an information campaign to include pamphlets and posters to reinforce overall awareness of the programs and the safety issues involved. The Office has worked with a regional advisory committee of Directors of Religious Education to strategize about integrating a safety curriculum into the parishes for CCD children. Both the Massachusetts Children’s Trust Fund and the Committee for Children (creators of TAT) were included in the discussions. Established in 2003, the Implementation and Oversight Advisory Committee is made up of local parents, and professionals in social services, education, public policy, child protection, and medicine, who help to evaluate the programs of the archdiocese and advise us about the road ahead.

All of us play a role in keeping our children safe. As adults in the community, we have an opportunity for creating safe environments by learning about how offenders operate. By studying their methods, we can learn how offenders integrate themselves into our lives and our programs and into the lives of our children. We can learn about their characteristic behaviors—the warning signs that someone is a risk of harm to children. We can implement screening and selection protocols, adhere to policies and procedures, assess the physical characteristics of our facilities, educate our children, and greatly minimize the opportunity for abusers to access our children. These are the goals of our programs - creating safe environments for our children and for the adults who minister to them in our parishes, schools, programs, and communities. On the whole, we are very pleased with the progress we’ve made so far, and the overwhelming support of the pastors, principals, teachers and parents. The programs are meeting the goals we hoped they would achieve.

The US Conference of Catholic Bishops' "Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People" mandates that all dioceses in the United States establish “Safe Environment” programs. Besides training programs for parish adults in how to identify and prevent child abuse, these programs are also to include training programs for children and young people that include age appropriate materials pertaining to personal safety,including information about improper touching and when they should seek assistance from trusted adults. There is a nation-wide audit process to ensure this guidance is being followed. The programs in place at this point are good for the Archdiocese of Boston, but there is much more work to accomplish as we attempt to integrate a consistent, system-wide approach to adult awareness and child safety.

We must continue to work together as a faith community to ensure that we are doing everything possible to protect our children and create a safer environment where the scandal of child abuse can be prevented - not only during Child Abuse Prevention Month – but at all times.

For more information about Child Abuse Prevention Month, log on to the US Department of Health and Humans Services website at www.calib.com/nccanch/prevmnth/

The phone number of the Office of Child Advocacy, Implementation and Oversight is 617-746-5994, or log-on to the archdiocesan website at www.rcab.org and select the Office of Child Advocacy, or e-mail us at child_advocacy@rcab.org

Deacon Anthony P. Rizzuto, Director, Office of Child Advocacy, Implementation and Oversight

Copyright © 2007 Archdiocese of Boston; all rights reserved