Florida Catholic | Safety Program Is ‘Making Sure Our Children Are Safe’

Safety program is ‘making sure our children are safe’

The Diocese of Palm Beach’s Serving Children Office is implementing programs to help parents protect their children from abuse.

LINDA REEVES | FLORIDA CATHOLIC PALM BEACH BUREAU EDITOR

Published: 04.18.08

Kit Johansen of the diocese’s Serving Children Office reads to children at St. Juliana School as part of a safety presentation. The office also has worked to get parents involved in the diocesan effort to protect children, in part by teaching them how to identify and avoid potentially dangerous situations.
LINDA REEVES | FC

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The Next Phase, Protecting Vulnerable Adults

WEST PALM BEACH | A diocesan official is visiting schools and parishes this month offering parents tools to help them protect their children from abuse.

“It is all about safety,” Kit Johansen of the Palm Beach Diocese’s Serving Children Office explained to about 20 parents gathered at St. Juliana School the first week of April. “How do we operate at school — when we go out to play — go to a mall — out in a big group?” Johansen is sporting a blue satin ribbon on her lapel as she makes a trek around the five-county diocese. The ribbon symbolizes Child Abuse Prevention Month, a national campaign each April aimed at promoting safe environments for young people.

Johansen also is acknowledging the five-year anniversary of the Serving Children Office. Since its inception, the office — created to locally implement the Charter for Protection of Children and Young People adopted by the U.S. bishops in 2002 — has conducted 10,000 fingerprinting and background checks, and operated training programs for 5,000 church employees and volunteers who have contact with children. Safety training for 25,000 children in Catholic schools and parish religious education programs has been a key component as well.

The office also has worked to get parents involved in the diocesan effort to protect children, in part by teaching them how to identify and avoid potentially dangerous situations. The office is stepping up those efforts this month, with numerous events scheduled in hopes to reach busy folks with tight time schedules. New programs that parents and children attend together are among the events.

“It is a sense of ‘we are all in this, caring for each other and making sure our children are safe,’” said Johansen to an audience of parents gathered at St. Juliana.

“I give a lot of literature to the parents so they can do this (promote safety) at home,” she told the Florida Catholic. “That is their job. We are here to support them in helping them raise their children’s awareness.”

According to figures from the diocesan chancellor’s office, as of June 2007 more than 5,000 parents have participated in the diocese’s safety programs.

“I like the fact that they (diocesan officials) come out and speak to the parents and (school) representatives,” said Susan Demes, assistant principal at St. Juliana. “The parents are informed from the diocese not just the school.”

The parent-and-child programs this month are reaching hundreds more in parishes in the north, south and central areas.

“I think that it is wonderful that the diocese can do the programs,” said Janie Messina of St. Juliana School. “It is excellent.”

“I think it is great,” said parent Irene Tramonte, mother of a 14-year-old, about the parent program she attended. “When you have kids approaching the teenage years, things start to shift. When they are little, you know how to protect them, and what to look for. The teenage years are what are interesting to me. Kit is great. She has a lot of good advice. She has children and she has a finger on the teens today.”

The office uses Virtus training materials, developed and marketed by the National Catholic Risk Retention Group.

“The parents enjoy the programs, the videos,” said Johansen. “They understand this is not sex education. This is education about safety.”

With 10,000 fingerprinted, it’s time to start over

In its nearly 25-year history, the Diocese of Palm Beach has been committed to protecting children, officials say. But efforts were enhanced in 2002 when the diocese added the Serving Children Office and a massive fingerprinting and background-checking initiative began.

“Initially it was about making sure all people working with children and coming in contact with them were cleared,” said Kit Johansen, director of the office. The strict procedures expanded, and are mandatory for everyone employed with the diocese, including its schools, parishes, pastoral center and other entities, as well as volunteers who come in contact with children or vulnerable adults.

“All of our volunteers are fingerprinted, even if they are only on the campus for an hour,” said Susan Demes, assistant principal at St. Juliana School in West Palm Beach. “Every parent involved on the campus has to be fingerprinted.”

According to the chancellor’s office, more than 10,000 priests, employees, volunteers and others have gone through the process in the past five years. At the end of 2007, rescreening began.

“Our policy states that screening must be repeated every five years and the policy went into effect five years ago in September 2002,” said Lorraine Sabatella, chancellor.

Fingerprinting devices are strategically located around the diocese and people are trained to operate them, making screening and finger printing easier for individuals. And Johansen, who travels the diocese to conduct training for parents and others, also takes the show on the road.

“I have been taking the fingerprinting machine out with me,” she said about her new portable helper. “It is great. I get to meet the people. I get to spread the positive word about what our office does. I consider it my new ministry — fingerprinting.”

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Safety program is ‘making sure our children are safe’

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With 10,000 fingerprinted, it’s time to start over

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