At Boys & Girls Club of Allentown,
Child Safety is Job No. 1
Ensuring child safety is fundamental to the mission of the Boys & Girls Club of Allentown
The Safety and Wellbeing of Young People is Our Number One Priority
We work every day to create a safe, fun environment so kids can have every opportunity to be successful in life. We have ZERO tolerance for inappropriate behavior of any kind, including child sexual abuse or misconduct, and we put resources behind that stance.
SAFETY POLICIES: Boys & Girls Club of Allentown has comprehensive safety policies in place that protect youth – including, but not limited to, supervision, transportation, and prohibiting private one-on-one contact. Click here to view BGCA’s Child Safety Policies.
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CHILD SAFETY HELPLINE
MANDATORY BACKGROUND CHECKS: Mandatory criminal background checks are required every year for every staff and board member at the Boys & Girls Club of Allentown. In addition, criminal background checks are required for any volunteer who has direct contact with children. All potential employees and volunteers are also run through the National Sex Offender Registry.
REQUIRED IMMEDIATE REPORTING: Boys & Girls Club of Allentown staff and volunteers are all mandated reporters. We are required to report any critical incident/safety concern to local authorities immediately. We are also required to report any critical incident to Boys & Girls Clubs of America within 24 hours.
MANDATORY ANNUAL SAFETY ASSESSMENTS: We complete a safety assessment each year to ensure we continually make improvements to safety at our Clubs.
SAFETY TRAININGS: Ongoing training and supervision of staff is critical. We participate in a wide variety of child safety training conducted such as conferences and webinars. We also engage leading third-party safety experts to provide guidance for our policies and approaches, including Praesidium, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, and the National Children’s Advocacy Center.
SAFETY COMMITTEE: The Boys & Girls Club of Allentown has a dedicated safety committee to provide input and guidance on local policies and safety strategies.
MANDATORY EMPLOYEE REFERENCE: Any employee interested in moving to another Boys & Girls Club is required to have a reference from the previous Club, even if the Clubs are within the same community.
- National Child Safety Advisory Task Force, made up of leading experts and organizations
- Blue Ribbon Taskforce, comprised of local Club leaders charged with providing input on the safety direction and key safety initiatives
- Mental Health First Aid, a national program that teaches skills to recognize and respond to signs of mental illness and substance abuse
- Crisis Text Line, a confidential text message service for youth in times of crisis