Child Safety and Education

Yes! Strip searches sometimes happen in the context of school searches, but most often because of an allegation of child abuse. Social workers regularly examine children’s private areas.

One of the hardest things your church may ever deal with is an allegation of child sexual abuse. These allegations create responsibilities for reporting to law enforcement, for ministering to people who are hurt, evaluating child safety procedures that are in place, interacting with media, dealing with offenders, considering legal issues, and other tough challenges.

Failures around child protection policies are heartbreaking on a personal and organizational level because children get hurt.

Bullying is inevitable. Whether it occurs in toddlerhood when children are learning to use “safe hands,” or when older adolescents engage in cyber-bullying, most children will hit an adversarial situation at some point in their young lives. Parents struggle to ensure that children are equipped with the proper tools to navigate a hostile world. But what if you are the mother or father of a special needs child? The atmosphere quickly changes and is even more frightening.

Last year, Telios Law represented Parents in a due process dispute that went all the way to a hearing (which is unusual). The decision was good news for the Parents. Here are five helpful insights for parents on how to handle special education disputes with a school district.

In the sexual assault or child sexual abuse arena, the alleged victim typically sues organization for claims such as negligent supervision. Recently, we have seen more lawsuits by the alleged offenders. These lawsuits give some helpful principles for organizations to follow, and perhaps needed warnings.

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.

Reporting child abuse is complex and important. Failure to report abuse can leave children at risk. Still, be wise before picking up the phone. An error in one direction may leave a child abused or make you criminally liable. An error in the other direction may damage a family, ruin a career, or expose you to a defamation lawsuit.

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.