Overview
Attending a Safe Environment Session
Mandatory Reporting Responsibilities Policy and Code of Ethical Standards
Background Check
Additional Information

Overview

The goal of the Safeguarding All of God's Family program is to protect our children and all in the church family from sexual abuse and related dangers.

The program is required for all of our priests, parish staff, and adult volunteers who have contact with children or youth. This includes those who volunteer at our school and in our Christian Formation program, those who chaperone field trips and retreats, etc. The archdiocese requires that all three program requirements shown below must be completed before you may volunteer with children or youth:

• Attend a Safe Environment Education session
• Sign the Mandatory Reporting Responsibilities Policy and Code of Ethical Standards
• Authorize a background check every five years

The parish Safe Environment Coordinator has the responsibility to ensure that all staff members and volunteers are compliant with the program requirements.

In addition, all volunteers are encouraged to continue their education by reading the quarterly Safeguarding All of God’s Family Newsletter published by the archdiocesan Office of Sexual Abuse Prevention and Response Services. Dates of publication will be the 15th of the following months: September, December, March and June.  These issues are included in the parish bulletin. You can also view the most recent issue and archived issues on the Resource page.

Attending a Safe Environment Session

All adult volunteers who work with minors must attend a three-hour facilitated Awareness Session about childhood sexual abuse and creating a safe environment. Participants must pre-register by computer so that their session attendance can be verified and they will receive credit for fulfilling this mandatory requirement. If you have any problems registering, please contact the parish Safe Environment Coordinator. You may attend any session that is offered, whether at our parish or elsewhere. For more information on session dates and times and to register for a session, please visit the archdiocesan website. Once you have attended a Safe Environment session:

• Send a copy of your session certificate by scanned email attachment, by mail, or in person to the parish Safe Environment Coordinator.
• If your session facilitator does not provide a certificate, contact the parish Safe Environment Coordinator with the date and location of the session you attended.

Additional details regarding session attendance are as follows:

• At this time, the archdiocese requires that volunteers attend a session only once.
• Volunteers who are 18 and under, including those who are still in high school, are not required to complete these requirements. 
• A session must be attended even if a person’s occupation already requires this education (police officers, lawyers, doctors, and teachers, for example). 
• If anyone feels that their knowledge about these issues exempts them from having to attend a session, they may write directly to the archbishop to explain the situation.
• If any person has a grave reason for not participating, the person may write to the archbishop and a reasonable alternative to the session requirement will be considered on an individual basis.
• The Boy Scout Youth Protection Program is currently recognized as fulfilling the session requirement.  A certificate of training will need to be provided.  A signed Code of Ethics form and background check authorization will still need to be submitted.

Mandatory Reporting Responsibilities Policy and Code of Ethical Standards

All adult volunteers who work with minors are required to read the mandatory reporting responsibilities policy and the code of ethical standards, and to sign an acknowledgement. Use the links below to view the documents and print the return form.

• Mandatory Reporting Responsibilities
• Code of Ethical Standards For Church Leaders

If you have any difficulty accessing these documents, contact the parish Safe Environment Coordinator. After reading both documents, print the final page of the Code of Ethical Standards for Church Leaders document, sign and print your name, and return it by scanned email attachment, by mail, or in person to the parish Safe Environment Coordinator.

Background Check

A background check must be completed for every new adult volunteer who works with minors and every five years thereafter. The archdiocese requires both a state and national criminal background check.  All background check results remain at the parish level and all related paperwork remains secure and confidential. A social security number is required to complete the process.  Please fully complete the background check authorization form and return it by scanned email attachment, by mail, or in person to the parish Safe Environment Coordinator.

Even if background checks are performed at other institutions, we are required to perform our own checks.  Third parties cannot share this confidential information for the privacy and protection of the individual.

Additional Information

Archdiocese Level

• See the Archdiocese of Milwaukee site for Safeguarding All of God's Family program.

Parish Level

• Contact the Parish Safe Environment Coordinator at (262) 377-1070 ext. 229, or send an e-mail.

• Completed forms can be sent to:

Safe Environment Coordinator
St. Francis Borgia Parish
1375 Covered Bridge Road
Cedarburg, WI 53012

• If you plan to send a completed form as an attachment (e.g.,sending a scanned form) through e-mail, see Instructions.