Summary

A comprehensive programme to help child facing organisations prevent abuse through providing families with a ‘Parent Guide’ designed to help them understand the issue of child sexual abuse and choose ‘safe’ organisations to be involved with their children.

Type of intervention

Book/guide

Target groups, level of prevention and subgroups

• Communities/Families | Primary prevention | Adults (21+ years) | Male and female | Book/guide | English, French

Target population

Parents/carers of children of all ages.

Delivery organisation

For parents and carers to read for themselves to learn about all aspects of child sexual abuse, including how to prevent and respond to it and how to choose organisations, extra-curricular activities, clubs and individuals who have child safety at the core of their work.

Mode and context of delivery

-

Level/nature of staff expertise required

-

Intensity/extent of engagement with target group(s)

Occasional; for guidance on how to protect their children from abuse and for use when choosing organisations that are ‘safe’ for a child/children to become involved in.

Description of intervention

Commit to Kids is a comprehensive programme created by the Canadian Centre for Child Protection to help childserving organisations prevent child sexual abuse. It provides strategies, policies and a step-by-step plan for reducing the risk of child sexual abuse and encourages organisations to take an active, participatory role in protecting children in their care. Commit to Kids recognises the essential role of parents and carers in helping to build safe environments for their own and other children in the community. In their Parent Guide, information is provided to help parents to understand the issue of child sexual abuse, assess their knowledge, protect their child and choose ‘safe’ organisations.

The 34-page Parent Guide is divided into five sections:

• Assess your personal safety knowledge
• Understand the risks: child sex offenders, the grooming process, child sexual abuse
• Learn what, when and how to report abuse and misconduct
• Implement safety tools: a family safety plan and lessons on personal safety and boundaries
• Learn how to choose safe organisations for your children by asking questions

The emphasis of the Parent Guide is on practicalities, including how to recognise when a child is attempting to disclose that he or she has been sexually abused; how to increase the likelihood that a parent would notice a possible disclosure; tips for handling disclosures and how to recognise and report abuse and misconduct (including grooming behaviours). It distinguishes abuse by a family member, an individual not related to the child and an individual in a position of trust and authority and how parents should proceed in each case. The Guide also contains a number of scenarios to help parents to identify and respond to instances of inappropriate behaviour in various settings.

Reproducible worksheets at the end of the Parent Guide include guidance on and a template for creating a Family Safety Plan, including exercises aimed at raising awareness of the risks that increase a child’s vulnerability to sexual exploitation or abuse and how to increase protective factors that can reduce those risks. Guidance on choosing a childsafe organisation provides pointers to enable parents to recognise whether the organisation they are interested in has child safety at its heart; for example, by hiring the right people (job description, job posting, interviewing, screening, reference checks etc); supervising and monitoring employees and volunteers; providing information and training to parents and children and having in place a child protection manual, including policies, that is available to parents and carers. Questions for choosing an organisation provides a further template for assisting them to choose a sports facility, club or activity that has systems and codes in place for preventing child sexual abuse and an ethos that promotes child safety, by asking specific questions.

Evaluations

None available.

References

-

Contact details

Canadian Centre for Child Protection (Publisher)
Website: www.commit2kids.ca

INFORMATION CORRECT AT JULY 2021

RATING: Pioneering