An incident or allegation of abuse can bring an organization to its knees. People question, “What went wrong? How could such a terrible thing happen?” Parents worry that their child may not be safe. Then there’s the media, police, investigations, lawsuits, donors leaving. But this doesn’t have to happen. You can prevent abuse.
The impact of abuse is far greater than its immediate, visible effects. Abuse and neglect are associated with short- and long-term consequences that may include developmental delays, learning disorders, problems forming relationships, aggressive behavior, and depression. Survivors of abuse and neglect may be at greater risk for problems later in life—such as low academic achievement, drug use, teen pregnancy, and criminal behavior—that affect not just the individual and their family, but society as a whole.
Catto & Catto LLP has partnered with Praesidium to help protect those in your care from abuse and to help preserve trust in your organization. Praesidium is the national leader in sexual abuse risk management. Praesidium knows how abuse happens in organizations and, more importantly, how to prevent it. By combining current research and root cause analysis of several thousand cases, Praesidium’s dedicated team of researchers, psychologists, attorneys, social workers, and human resource analysts have developed an abuse risk management model, the Praesidium Safety Equation. Praesidium’s root cause analysis and research demonstrated that risks fell into eight organizational operations: Policies, Screening and Selection, Training, Monitoring and Supervision, Internal Feedback Systems, Consumer Participation, Responding, and Administrative Practices.
The goal of any abuse prevention is simple—to stop the abuse and neglect from happening in the first place, sparing individuals’ and families emotional and physical trauma and decreasing the need for costly intervention and treatment services.
Learn more about preventing abuse at our upcoming Safety Academy event on Friday, November 9. Registration and more information at http://bit.ly/2JobGci.
About the Author
Jim Greaves | Director of Risk Management