Children & Youth Personal Safety Program
Educating Children on Personal Safety
We are living in a day and age when it is imperative that parents and educators together join forces to protect the children entrusted to our care from sexual predators. In order to assist our families with this important task we are providiing the Children & Youth Personal Safety ProgramTM , which was developed by the Diocese of Harrisburg, PA as part of that diocese's Formation in Christian Chastity Program. This program, widely used by Catholic dioceses throughout the U.S. has been found by the USCCB to be fully in compliance with the Charter.
The Charter for the Protection of Children & Young People, adopted by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) in 2002, requires the parish or school to provide formation for children in the areas of the safety and the integrity of their person.
We have adopted this program because it is less explicit than others and more grounded in the moral teachings of the Catholic Church, and less intrusive into the sphere of parental responsibility. The philosophy of the Children & Youth Personal Safety Program is to involve parents directly in the formation and education of their children. In addition to a classroom presentation of key safety issues, adapted for three different grade levels, parents will receive materials to help guide their own discussions with their children.
Our goal is to teach the adolescents entrusted to our care about their own role in maintaining their personal safety. The program will be facilitated by members of the Campus Ministry team this fall to all grade levels. In subsequent years, it will be given once during the Fall of the academic year to incoming Freshman and all Juniors.