Prevention programs sow the seeds of ‘rightdoing’

By Jack McCalmon, Esq.
Director of VIRTUS® Programs and Services

During these troubling times, it is comforting to know that there’s a path leading to the prevention of child sexual abuse. The length of that road varies, depending on individual circumstances; but, for everyone, it runs straight in the direction of best practices.

The best practice standard forms the foundation of all successful risk control and prevention programs. Only by adopting and using a best practice standard can you actually change the type of behavior that allows child sexual abuse to infiltrate your church or organization.

As I travel across the country discussing the VIRTUS® program, many people are beginning to understand the best practice standard and how it adds both breadth and depth to the VIRTUS® program response to child sexual abuse. As one person recently asked, “There’s a lot more to this prevention thing than just training volunteers and staff, isn’t there?”

Training without best practices is akin to throwing seed on untilled ground. Most of the seed blows away or never takes root, and weeds eventually choke out the few seeds that do germinate. But when you have best practices in place, your training does take hold and people’s attitudes and behaviors do begin to change—in a positive way.

The best practice standard for preventing wrongdoing—including child sexual abuse—incorporates communication, reasonable response, and training.

Communication is a two-way process. First is your communication of “no tolerance” to your staff and volunteers. Second is their communication back to you when they suspect child abuse is occurring, when they notice potentially risky behavior, or when inappropriate behavior is reported.

Good communication begins with well-written, concise and easy-to-understand policies and procedures. Your policies and procedures are an advertisement to your staff, volunteers, and others who interact with your organization. You are promoting and defining your standards, explaining how you’ll enforce those standards, and describing what your staff, volunteers, and others must do or not do to meet those standards and fulfill your expectations.

Even before you communicate your policies and procedures, you need to have your response mechanisms in place. The reasonable response standard begins with training internal personnel on how to conduct a professional investigation of wrongdoing. Trained investigators can investigate not only child sexual abuse, but also other forms of wrongdoing such as harassment, discrimination, and embezzlement. Investigators are taught how to conduct a prompt, fair, organized, and professional investigation. Additionally, by clearly communicating the details of your internal process for addressing concerns, intake and response personnel are trained on how to treat both the complainant and the accused with dignity and respect.

It is often difficult for an injured party to report abuse—particularly child sexual abuse. As a result, more and more dioceses are establishing “victim advocacy program” services. A victim advocacy program is a safe place for victims to report abuse to the Church.

Finally, an effective response also incorporates a team that collects facts, initiates an investigation (if necessary) and reports its findings and recommendations to the Bishop or other decision maker. The team is trained to understand and follow procedures to promote fairness, prevent potential conflicts of interest, and record the process and the decisions in a consistent and professional manner.

Once you have these mechanisms in place, you can prepare for training of clergy, staff and volunteers. But, before you conduct even a single training session, best practices require that you have a team of trainers in place that can deliver the message—instead of relying solely on external trainers. You also should have a means, preferably electronic, to record which individuals have and have not completed their training assignments. And, finally, you should establish a training curriculum that includes not only your message and how you plan to deliver it, but also a plan for how supplemental training sessions will be conducted. A common mistake is to conduct training without a follow-up training course for those who were unable to participate in the original training session, as well as a refresher course for necessary reinforcement and refinement.

Like plowing a field before sowing seed, it takes time and effort to establish best practices standards before proceeding with training. But, the resulting organizational change will help choke out the weeds of wrongdoing while growing a bumper crop of right-doing—to support your church or church-related organization or religious institute in fulfilling its Godly mission.

Jack McCalmon is an attorney specializing in civil rights, a frequent author and presenter on best practices, and former President of THE AGOS GROUP, LLC (AGOS), a national best practices firm and a strategic partner in the VIRTUS® program. Mr. McCalmon has taken a sabbatical from AGOS to assist with the VIRTUS® program. His title is Director of VIRTUS® Programs and Services. Mr. McCalmon presents and speaks on the VIRTUS® program and its best practices protocols to interested archdioceses and dioceses, religious organizations, and others.

To learn more about the VIRTUS® program, its child sexual abuse prevention programs, PROTECTING GOD’S CHILDREN™ and VIRTUS® Online, or to establish your own best practices in your archdiocese or diocese, you can reach Mr. McCalmon via e-mail at jmccalmon@virtus.org or call him toll-free at: 1-888-847-8870.

Smart practices for religious leaders and supervisors:

The Core Principles of the VIRTUS® program are best management practices

 



The best practice standard provides a benchmark for the ongoing evaluation of your church or organization’s policies, procedures, forms, and other operational infrastructure. These elements are the underpinnings of an efficient and effective organization. As an opinion leader in your organization and within your diocese, you are responsible for making others aware of the value that best practices bring to the integrity and safety of your organization’s
daily operations. So, awareness begins with you. But awareness extends outward in virtually every direction. Make sure that those to whom you report are aware of your commitment to regularly and frequently evaluate the effectiveness of your organization’s daily operations. Make them aware of your desire for regular and frequent feedback aimed at creating efficiency. Simultaneously, you should make your staff, your volunteers, and those you serve aware of your commitment to continuously improve the quality of service that your church or organization provides. Make them aware of the best practices standards that your organization upholds and teach them to expect nothing less. If you make such commitments, and make others aware of your commitments, you can generate a living framework for making your organization more successful (and more efficient) with each passing day—and continuously more responsive to those it serves.

 


Often, projects and organizations fail because of a lack of sufficient communication. You should continuously communicate your church’s or organization’s mission, goals, and objectives to your staff, your volunteers, and
those you serve. Be clear in your communication. Leave no room for misunderstanding or misinterpretation. On the surface, best practices may seem dull and uninspiring to some within your organization’s sphere of influence. But, a little explanation can generate a lot of interest. One way to communicate information about your organization’s best practices is by using familiar communication tools—things like newsletters, church bulletins, and regularly scheduled public announcements as an opportunity to mention and briefly explain the reasoning behind individual best practices issues. If, for example, you use the church bulletin to explain the value of conducting background checks on staff and volunteers, the result will likely be better prepared applicants who have already “screened themselves” as being worthy of the “background test.” This process alone frequently weeds out those of unsavory character. Communicating the value and function of your organization’s policies and procedures creates a well-educated organization—where unacceptable behavior is difficult to attempt and even more difficult to get away with.

 



We’ve all heard the old cliché, “actions speak louder than words.” In today’s religious environment, few words carry greater truth. Your clergy, staff, and volunteers, and especially those you serve, evaluate you and your organization on a daily basis. A great way to bolster your organization’s reputation is by keeping your word. And, for many of us, our weakness with regard to keeping
our word centers on our capacity to do things in a timely manner. In times like these, we are tempted to take on bigger tasks, aim for loftier goals, and create greater expectations than we realistically can manage. As a result, genuinely heroic efforts may result in perceived failure. Why? Because we created an unrealistic expectation, then failed to produce within the promised timeline. Make your organization’s best practices a part of your daily culture—not something “we’re going to do” at some point in the future. Also, don’t try to save the world in a single day. Focus on providing service—proactively and reactively—in a timeline that meets reasonable expectations while avoiding crisis. Then, make sure you and those around you follow through on your promised deadlines. Creating a realistic deadline—and keeping it—is a sure way to garner respect from those around you.

A day without best management practices is like …

The Core Principles of the VIRTUS® program can help make a difference

Training Scenario: Read the following training scenario and answer the questions. This scenario will help you apply the Core Principles of the VIRTUS® program to a similar situation in your church or organization.

Scenario begins: Jennifer is a 32-year-old single mother who volunteers in the summer daycare program at St. Mary’s Church. This is Jennifer’s second year as a volunteer, and her responsibilities include driving elementary school-age children to swimming lessons twice a week in a church van. Sister Jean, director of the daycare center, notices that Jennifer is showing up later each time she drives the kids to swimming lessons. She also observes that Jennifer seems to have her mind on something other than the kids.

Exercise #1: Based on her observations about Jennifer, what actions, if any, should Sister Jean take?

Scenario continues: On Tuesday morning, Jennifer arrives 20 minutes late to take the children to swimming lessons. Sister Jean sees Jennifer speed out of the parking lot in the church van, running over a curb as she pulls out onto the street with the children. Sister Jean decides that she’ll discuss her ongoing observations with Jennifer as soon as Jennifer returns.

Exercise #2: Consider Sister Jean’s planned course of action and how you might have responded differently.

Scenario continues: A couple of hours later, Jennifer returns to the church with the children. Sister Jean sees Jennifer park the van across the street from the church and allow the children to cross the street, unescorted. Sister Jean gets up from her desk and goes outside to intercept Jennifer. Just as she’s about to address Jennifer, one of the children comes running toward them, yelling, “Hey Miss Jennifer, you forgot my little sister at the swimming pool.” Jennifer acknowledges that she heard the child’s statement, but seems unmoved by it. Then, suddenly realizing that she’d left a small child unattended at the community swimming pool, Jennifer turns and runs toward the church van in a panic. Before Sister Jean can catch her, Jennifer once again speeds out of the parking lot.

Exercise #3: What should Sister Jean do to intervene?

Application of the Core Principles of the VIRTUS® program:

The Core Principles of the VIRTUS® program can provide valuable guidance in helping you continuously review and improve upon your church’s or organization’s best practices foundation.

Awareness—Best practice standards provide a benchmark for the ongoing evaluation of your church’s or organization’s policies, procedures, forms, and other internal processes. As stated earlier in this newsletter, these elements are the underpinnings of an efficient and effective organization. Best practices are also the foundation for all elements of the PROTECTING GOD’S CHILDREN™ program. When it comes to child safety, you should always be aware of who is with the children, what the children are doing, when they will switch from one activity to the next, where they are going, and how they are behaving. If anything appears out of the ordinary, you should ask yourself, “Why?” Whether you’re clergy, religious, staff, a volunteer, or someone who happens to be walking past, it is your responsibility to advocate safety and security for all children, all the time. Be aware—keep your eyes open—and ask yourself, “Who, what, when, where, why, and how?

Communication—If you notice unusual or suspicious behavior by those in charge of children, communicate your concerns immediately to someone in a position of authority. Your church or organization has policies and procedures for reporting incidents, concerns, and potential risks and for managing any activities where children might be vulnerable. If you aren’t familiar with those policies and procedures, ask about them immediately. Child safety is a team effort, and communication is the tool that keeps everyone on the team thinking clearly and focused on his or her individual responsibility.

Timely Response—Child safety issues can’t wait until someone “returns” from the swimming pool, or a meeting, or anything else. Child safety demands an immediate response. Don’t wait for your suspicions to be confirmed. While you are looking for more evidence, a child’s life could be in danger.

Concluding thoughts: Sister Jean had seen a pattern of suspicious behavior from Jennifer; namely, Jennifer’s growing tendency to arrive late, Sister Jean’s observation that Jennifer seems increasingly distracted, and today’s observation that Jennifer sped out of the parking lot and ran over a curb. Sister Jean should have asked herself: “What’s going on with Jennifer? Why is she always late? Why was she speeding out of the parking lot and why did she run over a curb? And, with Jennifer behaving erratically, how safe are the children in a van that Jennifer is driving?” With Jennifer running 20 minutes late, best practices dictate that another qualified driver should have already taken the children to their swimming lesson. If that had happened, Jennifer would not have sped out of the parking lot and hit the curb.

Upon seeing Jennifer speed out of the parking lot and hit the curb, Sister Jean should have immediately expressed her concern to the St. Mary’s pastor, or someone else in a position of authority, and two people should have been appointed to follow Jennifer to the swimming pool—one assigned to look out for the children while another, probably Sister Jean, discusses her erratic behavior and unsafe driving with Jennifer. There’s no excuse for a child to be forgotten—especially at a high-risk place like a swimming pool.

It’s clear that Sister Jean was aware of the warning signs. But, awareness alone is not enough. Communication and timely response are essential to child safety. An organization’s policies and procedures are designed to elicit a timely response, but without awareness and communication, policies and procedures are merely words on a page. You can help your organization provide better child safety by being aware of the policies and procedures, communicating regularly about the application of those procedures, and soliciting ongoing conversations with others designed to keep everyone “on their toes” and prepared to respond to anything that affects child safety.

What is Your Opinion?

Do you use a filter or monitoring software at home?