DIOCESAN NEWS
08/20/10
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Child protection office provides lessons,
resources to schools, parishes
By Fabvienen Taylor
JACKSON — Schools in the Diocese of Jackson recently opened for the 2010-2011 year and along with academics, students will be taught how to protect themselves from potential abusers.
In accordance with the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, implemented in 2002, the Jackson diocese established the Office of Child Protection in October 2003.
Vickie Carolla, director of the child protection office, said there are two components to the Protection of Children Program — prevention and response.
The prevention component requires all employees and significant volunteers receive a criminal background screening and a safe environment training prior to working with children/youth.
“We provide training in all parishes and schools and we do the background checks of all diocesan employees and significant volunteers,” she said.
“We also provide a training review every two years for all active employees and volunteers working with children and youth.”
In addition, the backgrounds of employees and volunteers are re-screened every five years.
Each year children and youth in parishes and diocesan schools receive a safe environment lesson, she said.
In parishes the lesson is presented by catechists in religious education classes and in religion class in diocesan schools.
According to Carolla, the safe environment lesson for children/youth summarizes the major points children should know in order to prevent physical, verbal and sexual abuse from occurring, and to respond appropriately if it does occur.
She said the lesson material is presented on an age-appropriate level and introduces to children/youth the basic concept of body safety and self-protection skills.
“Normally the lesson is presented in the fall of the year. We prefer to give it in October, Respect Life Month, but it can be given anytime from September to the end of November,” said Carolla. “This is ongoing every year, it never stops.”
Parents of children/youth are presented with the lesson prior to their children receiving it, she said. After viewing the lesson, a parent can request their child not participate in the lesson, but the request must be put in writing.
Carolla said the response component instructs an employee/significant volunteer in the Mandated Reporting of Suspected Abuse and the Summary of Procedures for Reporting Suspected Child Abuse.
When an allegation is found to be credible, counseling will be offered by the Victims Assistance Coordinator, Louise Dillon, at 601-326-3728.
To ensure the Jackson diocese is in compliance with the norms for the protection of children, an audit of the child protection office is performed annually by the Gavin Group, a company contracted through the USCCB Office of Child Protection.
“It (audit) covers the period from July 1 to June 30. For example, in that time period for 2009-2010, we trained 3,887 adults in safe environment and performed background screenings on them,” Carolla said. “And 7,705 children received a safe environment lesson.”
To date, 8,947 adults have received training and background screenings since the inception of the diocesan charter.
“Altogether we’ve had seven audits. We are about to undergo our third on-site audit, which is done every three years,” said Carolla. “This year the audit will occur the week of Sept. 27.”
The result of the audits can be viewed online by clicking on the Protection of Children link on the diocese’s website: www.jacksondiocese.org.
Carolla said the website provides the diocesan policy and all documents and forms relating to the protection of children, as well as links to general education and resources on safe environments. The policy is also provided in Spanish.
“I think all the questions people might have about our office can be answered on the website. It is very informational,” Corolla said.
Sister Deborah Hughes, superintendent of diocesan schools, said the diocese did background checks prior to the USCCB charter.
“Ten years ago I engaged the services of a company to do background checks on new employees. After the charter we contracted with another company to screen all employees, new and old, and all significant volunteers, which means the process is much more thorough and covers a much larger number of people.”
She said Carolla constantly researches child protection programs across the United States. “If she finds something she thinks is better, she sends me the information and we review it to see if it can be used in our diocese.
“The basic theme that runs through all of the educational programs presented to children/youth in our schools and parishes is to teach them they have the right to say ‘no’ to anyone who violates their personal boundaries.”
The child protection office provides a parents guide, “Preventing Child Sexual Abuse,” which covers children from preschool to age 17.
“We want parents to be involved in our child protection program,” Sister Hughes said.
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