Creating safe environments for schools, parishes 
By ALI SMITH
Special to Catholic Times 

As we wrap up April, which is Child Abuse Prevention Month, let’s take a look at how the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois is continuously educating and providing awareness to prevent the abuse of children. 

The Springfield diocese has been implementing training and screening requirements for adults since 2002. These measures continue to promote a safe environment in the Catholic schools and churches of this diocese. 

Adults in every family, school, community, and church are the protectors of the minors within. As leaders, adults should be educated to recognize signs of abuse. Before serving in diocesan parishes and schools, employees and volunteers must complete educational training which helps them to identify warning signs. Previously, the training used was called Protecting God’s Children. 

As of July 1, 2022, the diocese has switched training programs and is now utilizing Catholic Mutual Group’s (CMG) Safe Haven training. The new training program is offered on a fully virtual platform which allows the user to take the course on his or her own time. The content is more engaging and relevant than previous trainings. CMG’s Safe Haven safe environment training is comprised of components to increase awareness for protecting children and to help adults recognize and report signs of abuse or neglect. 

Along with being required to complete safe environment training, adults serving as employees and volunteers in the diocese are required to complete background checks. While screening requirements have been in place since 2002, the diocese began requiring all employees and volunteers to be background checked as of 2010. Previously, criminal history and DCFS background checks were done with hardcopy forms and were both required to be renewed every five years. Now, the criminal history background check is done electronically through the CMG training platform with the DCFS check instructions included in the process. The new criminal history searches are much more thorough and reliable, with routine automatic re-checks which removes the need for regular five-year renewals. While DCFS checks are still required every five years, the new criminal history screening method is quite an improvement from the previous process.

The diocesan Office for Safe Environment is dedicated to the prevention of child sexual abuse in the church. The goal of these changes is to keep the training and screenings programs as relevant and reliable as possible. For more information about the updated requirements, please contact your school or parish Safe Environment Coordinator or the Office for Safe Environment.

Ali Smith is director of the Office for Safe Environment for the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois.