Child Safety Zone

It's a good idea to run an annual child safety survey in your church.  

An active duty law enforcement officer, SWAT operator, and former pastor gives advice on how to best protect the kids in your ministry.  

A fun (and yummy) lesson introduction that helps kids learn about delayed gratification.

A Child Security Training Video for use in Your Ministry.

A Child Security Training Video for use in Your Ministry.

Important steps you need to take in your ministry to keep you, your volunteers and your kids safe.

7 tips to consider when addressing concerns in your ministry.

How you welcome your holiday guests is a powerful tool in your arsenal of customer service offerings. Keep in mind: you never get a second chance to make a first impression.

Implementing a plan to address children’s allergy issues is essential. Part of successfully planning to keep the children in your care safe includes having accurate information, using that information effectively, and utilizing a system to easily communicate with parents.

How to keep children with allergies safe while in your care.

Can't afford an electronic check in system? Maybe your kid's ministry is still growing and doesn't justify the investment yet. Here is a solution that worked well for one church. 

The best way to prevent abuse is to plan ahead. This is the first post in a three part series from KidCheck on the essential elements of designing and implementing an effective Child Protection Policy.

Whether you’re setting goals, preparing budgets, or creating a promotional plan for VBS, one fact remains the same…child safety should be at the top of your mind. KidCheck shares six timely tips to keep safety a top priority and a crucial part of a successful VBS event.

If you have a solid child safety plan, a good protection policy, and all the right guidelines in place, how to let new families and existing ones know about your efforts to keeps kids safe? Here are 5 tips to get started.

A comprehensive screening process includes several steps, with the written application laying the foundation. Learn more on what it is and why it is important.

Learn why background checks are an important piece of the overall safety puzzle, how they work, what to look for in a service provider, and the information not included.  

Let’s explore the benefits and some of the ethical and legal considerations when using a social media background check as part of a comprehensive candidate screen.

References often bubble up need-to-know information about the character, commitment, and a person’s history of working with children. 

Having a face-to-face discussion yields valuable information and allows a candidate to be reviewed from different angles.

The final step in the candidate screening process: motor vehicle check and waiting period.

“By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” Emergencies can happen at any time. The worst time to prepare for an emergency is during one. Here are some points to consider implementing and some tips to help you be successful.

Emotional concussions can be just as lethal, and sometimes even more so, than a physical concussion

Read these tips on how to protect you and your kids as they go back to school. 

Five Ways to Save Money When Improving Child Safety

Learn about the steps to take to help get leadership support to improve child safety in your organization. 

Information to help you find champions to support your child safety strategy and tips on how to be prepared and present it.

Mr. Rogers gives great advice on how to talk to kids about scary events in the news. 

Keeping your kids safe should be a top priority! Here is a child safety video and guide from Kidcheck to help you care for your children.

Tips for Creating a Staffing Plan and Choosing Volunteers Wisely

The "Reducing the Risk of Juvenile Offenses in Children's Ministry" is a 3 part series that discusses the nature of juvenile offenses, shares details on profiles of those that offend, and highlights the elements of having a youth safety plan that's an extension of your child protection policy.

This is the second in a series of three “Reducing the Risk of Juvenile Offenses in Children’s Ministry” posts focusing on the nature of juvenile offenses and commonalities in profile of those who offend. We’ll also share the importance of creating awareness and having a youth safety plan.

Thanks for joining us for the third and final post in our “Reducing the Risk of Juvenile Offenses in Children’s Ministry” series. In Part 3, we’ll share some key elements of the youth safety plan, including details on how to properly screen volunteers, the steps to take when managing an incident, ways to include those in your ministry who have past offenses, and as a final point, we’ll sum up the top action steps you can take immediately to reduce offenses in children’s ministry.

Have you ever tried to continue working to improve child safety in your organization, but lacked the necessary leadership support?

An logical and necessary discussion for allowing men to serve in children's ministry.

Our kids live in a digital age. To say that times have changed since we were kids is a gross understatement. But how are we doing at keeping up with those changes? How can we stay ahead of the digital curve and keep our kids safe?

Keeping Predators Out! It's a big job, but not impossible. Here's a synopsis of the most current and up-to-date child protection information.

How do we protect our girls in a sex-saturated culture?

Here are some security topics being talked about and some of the actions organizations are taking to address them.

Make your Children's Ministry an even safer environment with these suggestions from safety and security experts.

Taking the time to thoroughly screen is an important step in identifying youth that are a good fit and keeping child safety a priority.   

This article aims to provide a conversation starter to motivate church leaders to look beyond the minimum requirements for child safety toward developing a fully orbed approach. It is not exhaustive, but it does touch on major important points commonly missed in local churches.

A child safeguarding committee creates and implements a set of working principles that minimizes the grey area of working with children and addressing allegations of abuse. 

This valuable story could prevent you from great heartache and a ruined ministry career! A MUST-READ!

Church security teams are the fastest growing ministry of 2016. In this post, we’re going to share information on how to get momentum to start a church security team, if your church lacks one. The main point is for children's ministry to connect with the church security team and utilize them as a resource for children's ministry.

In our first post, The Partnership of Security Teams & Children’s Ministry for Safety we shared information on how to get the momentum moving to start a church security team, if your church lacks one. For this post, we’d like to share actionable steps that you can take for engaging and utilizing an existing security team.

It’s important to invest time in getting to know those applying to work directly with children. Screening candidates is the first step in increasing child safety.

The two-adult rule, often referred to as the Rule of Two, is critical to implement and is the preferred standard for abuse prevention. Understanding the established ratios for adults and children and maintaining adequate staffing goes a long way towards providing a safe environment.

Organizations know background checks help reduce risk, maintain a safe environment and minimize liability. But how often, for whom, and how important is it really?

An article that uses a personal experience to look at the necessity for both spiritual and physical safety in ministry.