Diocese to train new facilitators for safe environment program

By RENEE WEBB, Globe editor
August 19, 2004

Progress continues in the Diocese of Sioux City with the training of volunteers and employees on ways to help keep children safe in Catholic schools and parishes via the Protecting God's Children safe environment program by VIRTUS.

Church and Catholic school employees as well as volunteers who have regular contact with children are required to take this training that raises awareness of the issue of child sexual abuse. This program is unique in that it focuses on adult behavior surrounding children and young people, in an effort to identify potential threats to their safety and prevent perpetrators from having an opportunity to be with children. Key to the program is the ability of adults to communicate their concerns about suspicious behavior to the appropriate school or church official

In all about 5,000 people have been trained and about 3,000 continue with on-line training as required of employees and volunteers who work regularly with children.

"The focus of this program is not to instill the thought for anyone that we don't trust them. If we are all aware of the simple steps to take - knowing the warning signs, to control access, to monitor all programs, to be aware and communicate - then we are all better able to protect God's children," said Kevin Vickery, diocesan co-coordinator of the safe environment program with Margaret Fuentes. "It is a matter of each one of us who have been through this training being a part of the protection process for the children."

Additional VIRTUS training sessions are being scheduled for those required to take part in the process as well as for parents and other parishioners who are interested.

"One of the mandates from the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People from the U.S. bishops conference in Dallas was that we also provide an educational component for parents," said Vickery.

The diocesan co-coordinators of the safe environment program recently completed master facilitator training.

This means that rather than having to bring a representative from VIRTUS to the diocese whenever new facilitators are needed here, Vickery and Fuentes can now train facilitators as the need arises.

"There is tremendous value in this from two standpoints. First of all, we have the ability to continually assist and train our facilitators. For those who have already been trained, we can act as a resource for them," said Fuentes. "Secondly, I think it will save tremendous dollars for the diocese. Rather than have a consultant come in for several thousand dollars with each trip, Kevin and I will be able to do it as in-house resources."

These two will lead their first facilitator training session on Sept. 8 and 9 at Immaculate Conception in Sioux City.

Last year 16 people - including Vickery and Fuentes - were trained as facilitators in Des Moines via a statewide training effort.

"Because there have been transitions in people's personal and professional lives, some who were able to facilitate for us last year have moved on to other ministries or other positions. All of a sudden we were looking at a need to train additional facilitators," he said.

When they were exploring the options for training new facilitators they learned that the company which offers the VIRTUS training had recently developed a master's facilitator program.

This program was designed for individuals who had completed a certain amount of training sessions, had done a certain kind of training sessions such as working with large groups and were current with the ongoing training process. Based on these requirements the two diocesan coordinators met the criteria for the training.

"One of the steps of this process was that we needed to attend another training session where we specifically watched the facilitator trainer do the sessions so we could replicate that training here in the diocese," noted Vickery.

The two attended this session in the Diocese of Rockford, Ill., facilitated by Sharon Doty, the master trainer from VIRTUS and author of many of the materials used in the Protecting God's Children program. Fuentes and Vickery not only watched her facilitate the training session but also had the opportunity to meet with her individually for additional training.

"We gained a greater comfort level in terms of what information we need to have and use to bolster the facilitators who are out there working," said Fuentes.

That Illinois diocese was doing a re-training of facilitators with the VIRTUS representative, but from here on they plan to take part in the master facilitator program. It is anticipated that the master facilitator training program will become the model by which dioceses train facilitators for the Protecting God's Children safe environment program.

"Our goal now is to have the facilitators more on a local level - so that when parishes and schools need to have a training session for parents, volunteers or employees it is much easier to have someone right there to coordinate a schedule," noted Vickery.

Fuentes added that, ideally, they would have a facilitator at each of the Catholic schools as well as another three to four individuals in each deanery.

Presently, 17 people from across the diocese have signed up for the facilitator training. They would like to see at least 30 to 40 people sign up for the Sept. 8-9 training. While there is a screening process, persons interested in serving as a facilitator are asked to call Vickery for more information at (712) 233-7527. Interested individuals should make inquiries by Sept. 1.

Training to become a facilitator is a two-day process. Facilitators must be willing to present this three-hour training at least five or six times a year in their parish, school and area parish communities.

To date 84 percent of the people who are required to take part in VIRTUS training - 4,667 people from the diocese's parishes and schools - have done so.

In addition to the training, the safe environment program in the diocese handles background checks for all existing volunteers and employees. Thus far 80 percent of required checks are complete. Also, to date, 75 percent have acknowledged that they received a copy of Code of Ethical Standards. Employees and volunteers who were on the books as of last year must have these three pieces of the safe environment program complete by Oct. 31. New employees and volunteers will have 90 days to complete the VIRTUS training and should have had the background check and review of the code upon their hiring.

"There are a number of individuals at the parish and school level who have worked very hard to gain compliance with this. Overall, I think people recognize the importance of this and recognize the critical issues when it comes to keeping our children safe. Some locales have not been as efficient as others, but we are hoping that they will also recognize the value and become a part of the program in an active way," said Fuentes.

The safe environment program and these policies were generated as a result of the recommendation of a diocesan task force that met from June of 2002 to July of 2003. This group will reconvene this month to review the first year's progress of the diocesan safe environment program.

"The more people who have this done then the easier it will be for the parish DREs, schools administrators and pastors to have a pool of qualified volunteers to work with kids," said Vickery. "Our number one goal is to increase the awareness, but the secondary outcome is that we have more people on hand to volunteer in our programs."

Fuentes pointed out that it is clear that this issue will not go away.

"Our commitment to this as a church is not going to go away, so it's best for us to incorporate this in to all of our processes and move forward," she said.