Protecting Children

Most people know that if there is an allegation of child abuse, a report to the authorities needs to be made, but may be unsure of how to do it. We've created a template form and some guidelines that may help.

New federal legislation is creating additional protections for pregnant workers and new moms in the workforce.

Preventing and responding to sexual abuse is a major issue for churches and ministries. This article discusses the various ways in which attorneys can help organizations prevent and respond to abuse and discusses what ministries should expect from their attorneys.

A religious organization was accused of protecting a known pedophile within its organization. How can an organization stay on the right side of the law and be sure that it protects children?

A white paper by Theresa Lynn Sidebotham, Esq. and Roger L. Dixon, M. Div., Th.M., Ph.D. about biblical ethics and responding to child abuse.

Sexual harassment and abuse create tragic stories for individuals and organizations. How do we prevent abusive or harassing behavior by basic best practices?

This article was published in the 2014 Evangelical Missionary Society's annual publication number 22 called The Missionary Family: Witness, Concerns, Care.

A white paper by Theresa Lynn Sidebotham, Esq. about how religious organizations must devote time, energy, and money to prevent, stop, and heal abuse whenever it is found. This paper examines the current landscape of this kind of abuse, then it addresses prevention and wise approaches to investigations.

I am always amazed at how easy these management issues become once an organization (or family) implements them. I got to thinking about some of the ways a parent can act and relate that can help prepare their child to not be abused. I think of four behaviors right away: 1) On the radar, 2) Chatter, 3) Buddy, and 4) Touch.

For abuse to happen, three factors must be present. First, there must be a perpetrator who desires to abuse. Second, there must be a child who will take the role of a victim. Third, there must be an environment that provides enough privacy for the perpetrator to act. If prevention and training can stop any one of the three factors necessary for child sexual abuse, the abuse will not happen.