CHURCH and FAITH-BASED
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Church and Faith-Based

Hold your ministry to a higher standard.

Your church or ministry may be the last place you would expect sexual abuse to occur, but molesters often exploit the trusting environment of faith-based organizations. They count on the church or ministry to embrace them with little scrutiny and to automatically assume the best—even when such assumptions are not warranted. And churches and ministries sometimes run short on program and administrative employees, allowing dangerous gaps in screening, training, and supervision. In the spirit of redemption and forgiveness, some churches allow convicted sex offenders to take part in services and even operate programs.

Faith-based organizations continue to face child abuse claims and lawsuits—don’t let your ministry’s prevention efforts fall behind other organizations and national standards of care. Victims won’t hurt less and courts won’t be more forgiving because abuse occurred in a faith-based organization.

Click on the links below to learn more about the services Praesidium can provide to your church or faith-based organization.

  • Training
    Does the training you provide employees and volunteers work to change behavior, or does it just provide a “check in the box” every two or three years? Does it engage the learners? Are you certain it covers the correct content? Do you reliably track and ensure completion? Praesidium provides a complete training delivery system for organizations, including customized online courses, onsite workshops, DVD programs, mini-minders and just-in-time videos. Learn More
  • Policy Development
    Policies define the bandwidth of acceptable behavior in your organization—what’s permitted and what’s not—and inform and empower employees and volunteers to take action before an incident occurs. Praesidium reviews your existing policies and helps develop new policies that permit you to accomplish your mission while prohibiting behaviors most commonly associated with abuse. Learn More
  • Risk Assessment and Accreditation®
    Now your organization can publicly demonstrate that it meets the highest standards of abuse prevention in the nation. Using Praesidium’s proprietary risk management system, our team of Safety Analysts comes on site to evaluate your practices in eight key organizational operations. You receive a detailed report outlining strengths and potential exposures in each program and a prioritized action plan to close any gaps. Once you’ve closed the gaps, you earn Praesidium Accreditation®, proof to your stakeholders, the community, and your insurance underwriters of your demonstrated commitment to safety. Learn More
  • Screening and Selection Services
    Deciding who has access to those you serve is one of the most important decisions you can make, but many organizations still rely only on a simple background check to screen employees and volunteers. Read on to learn the surprising truth about background checks and how Praesidium’s screening and selection services can help overhaul your hiring process. Learn More
  • Youth and Parent Education
    Parents and youths can play a crucial role in your organization’s child safety efforts when they learn what to watch for and how to respond. Praesidium offers abuse prevention training for parents and age-appropriate training and curriculum for youths of all ages. Learn More
  • Background Checks
    Praesidium’s background check services help you take the first step in effectively screening employees and volunteers. Learn More

To learn about our specific work with Catholic organizations, click here.

Testimonials

     Praesidium has been a key part of our risk assessment and management program for several years. They’ve demonstrated reliable strengths in a variety of areas including safety assessments, background screening, abuse prevention training, policy creation and even crisis response. Additionally, their team has helped us identify areas we can continue to improve, helping us toward our goal of creating a safer environment for our staff, volunteers and the kids we work with. We chose Praesidium because we were looking for more than a service provider, we were looking for a partner we could trust – and that is what we’ve found.

Seth Baker
AVP, Risk Management, Youth for Christ USA

     The Salvation Army Western Territory has entrusted Praesidium with our abuse risk management needs for more than a decade. What began as a review of a small program has grown into an ongoing partnership that included a risk assessment of all programs, development of standards and online training for field staff, and the creation of screening and selection criteria for employees and volunteers. Most recently, Praesidium built an online self-assessment to help our programs measure their practices against the highest abuse prevention standards.

Our partnership with Praesidium has allowed the Salvation Army Western Territory to protect its mission and continue to serve those in need.

Anne Calvo
Child Safety Consultant, The Salvation Army Western Territory