ALL ARCHDIOCESAN/PARISH/SCHOOL CLERGY, EMPLOYEES & ADULT VOLUNTEERS, AS WELL AS CERTAIN INDEPENDENT CONTRACTORS, who have contact with minors or vulnerable adults, must complete our online Safe & Sacred training, a background check, a reference check, and accept and adhere to the Safe Environment policies. Archdiocesan Policy for safe environment includes the following:
Please contact your parish or school's Safe Environment Facilitator to obtain instructions for accessing the Safe & Sacred Training Portal.
The listed courses are located in the Safe & Sacred Online Training Portal. New volunteers and employees will complete the first-year course upon onboarding. The next year's training course will be available August 1.
Year 1 - Recognizing and Preventing Child Abuse
Year 2 - Professional Boundaries and Behaviors
Year 3 - Technology Safety
Year 4 - Protecting Vulnerable Populations
Year 5 - Human Trafficking
We are blessed to have responsible teen volunteers working with children in our diocese. This training is designed to assist our youth in understanding these sensitive concepts in an age-appropriate manner. Teens will learn to recognize possible signs of abuse so that they can help ensure activities are conducted in a way that all children are safe at all times. The training gives direction for recognizing, recording and reporting.
Parents of teen volunteers are provided additional materials and discussion questions to guide conversation with their children. These efforts foster awareness and maintenance of safe environments in our communities. This program is designed for teen volunteers ages 14-17 years old. This training is conducted annually by parish and/or school personnel, and the materials for the course can be viewed in the Safe & Sacred system in the Children's Learning Program section.
The Children's Learning Program brings safety training to children of all ages. Themes are covered in this curriculum including safety rules, trust, responding to unsafe situations, understanding intuition, internet and phone safety, and predators. Children learn age-appropriate concepts introduced in the early years and build upon those concepts as the child grows. This program is designed for school aged children PK-12 grades. This training is conducted annually by parish and/or school personnel and the materials for the course can be viewed in the Safe & Sacred system in the Children's Learning Program section.
Policy - Overview of Training Curriculum Children and Young People
The purpose of “Keeping your Child Safe” is to outline strategies parents can use to recognize and prevent child abuse. A greater understanding and awareness could spare emotional and physical trauma associated with abuse, and decrease need for costly intervention and treatment services. These prevention strategies focus on developing effective parenting skills, understanding the benefits of nonviolent discipline techniques and ways to address a child’s emotional, physical, and developmental needs. The ultimate goal is to empower parents to become powerful advocates for child abuse prevention by reaching out to other parents in need of help and support and shaping policies and practices that impact families. "Keeping your Child Safe" eBook can be downloaded from the Safe & Sacred portal in the Parent Program section.
Compass Child Protection, a service of The Learning Factory, LLC is commonly referred to as Safe & Sacred throughout our Safe Environment Programs.