Have you ever wondered why organizations have a legal responsibility for keeping kids safe? Churches, schools, camps, teams, and other youth-serving organizations all have what’s called a “duty of care” to the minors in their ministries.
The legal duty of care these organizations owe kids isn’t optional. If your church, school, or youth program fails to meet its legal duty of care, you can face serious consequences.
Let’s look at why that is:
When organizations break the law and fail to protect children, they face lawsuits, criminal prosecution, and ruined reputations. You can see the result of one church’s legal failure in the Chapelstreet Church lawsuit filed by survivors of abusive students in the Chapel Street Church cover-up. The good news is you can learn what every organization should know about the law.
With the right training and protocols in place, any youth organization can operate within the law and keep kids safe.
Table of Contents
- What Duty of Care Means
- The Legal Duty of Care Organizations Owe to Children
- Components of a Duty of Care Policy
- Ways Organizations Violate Their Legal Duty of Care
- How to Build a Safety System that Follows the Law
What Duty of Care Means
In legal terms, duty of care means an organization’s responsibility to prevent harm to children. When parents sign their kids up for church camp or hand them over to coaches and teammates, they expect those organizations to keep kids safe.
That expectation creates a legal duty.
Here’s how courts have described the duty of care that organizations owe to children.
It’s simple:
Once an organization takes responsibility for children, they assume a legal duty of care. The law expects those organizations to exercise “reasonable care” when protecting kids.
Some judges have even said organizations must use a “high” degree of care with children.
How can organizations provide this level of care? By:
- Vetting and screening everyone who works with kids
- Having strong supervision guidelines
- Protecting kids from harm in the physical environment
- Responding properly to allegations
If organizations don’t meet this standard, they can face lawsuits, criminal charges, and massive liability.
The Legal Duty of Care Organizations Owe to Children
Child safety laws have evolved a lot over the last few decades.
Under CAPTA, the federal child abuse prevention law, each state creates laws that apply to children.
Here’s what you should know:
Most states have laws that apply to organizations. Specifically, churches, schools, and teams are now considered “youth service organizations” in many states.
These laws usually require youth-serving organizations to:
- Have written child protection policies
- Screen background checks on all members and employees
- Report any suspected abuse
- Train workers and volunteers on prevention
Failure to comply with these laws can result in criminal charges and civil lawsuits.
Pew Research estimates there are over 72 million minors involved in some type of youth organization.
With that many children in church, school, and teams, even a small percent of abuse equals thousands of kids affected every year.
7 Out of Every 1,000 kids will be sexually abused in an organization.
Considering JAMA Pediatrics found about .8% of kids are sexually abused by someone in a youth-serving organization over their lifetime, that adds up.
Components of a Duty of Care Policy
To build a system that provides a proper duty of care, organizations should include several key components.
These include:
Screening & Background Checks
All adults and teenagers who come into contact with kids should be screened and background-checked.
This includes pastors, teachers, coaches, volunteers, and summer staff.
Background checks should be performed before anyone is allowed to work with children.
But criminal background checks aren’t enough.
Volunteers should also be required to provide:
- Contact references
- Meet in-person with organization leaders
- Waiting period before working with children alone
We recommend a six-month screening period before any new volunteers are allowed to work with kids in your ministry.
Supervision Guidelines
Organizations should never place children alone with an adult (unless it’s their parents).
There are many different supervision policies, but all should include:
- Two adults when children are in ministry gatherings
- Windows in all classrooms
- Passing through common areas to access child-accessible rooms
- Immediate response to any allegations
Training
Teams, churches, and schools should provide prevention training to staff and volunteers.
Training should include:
- Sexual abuse signs
- Physical abuse signs
- Mandatory reporting procedures
- Youth safety policies and procedures
Training shouldn’t be a one-time event.
To provide a true duty of care, organizations should invest in annual prevention training.
Ways Organizations Violate Their Legal Duty of Care
The harsh reality is organizations fail kids every day.
A recent report from the National Children’s Alliance found that:
Most child abuse is committed by family members.
76% of offenders were parents or guardians of the victim.
Organizational abuse is rare. However, when it does occur it is often the result of multiple violations of duty of care.
Instances where organizations violate their legal duty of care include:
- Failure to conduct background checks
- Not having written child safety policies
- Ignoring red flags and complaints
- Failure to report suspected abuse to law enforcement
- Failing to supervise adults around children
When organizations fail to protect children from preventable abuse, they can be sued and criminally prosecuted.
Courts have awarded millions of dollars to victims because of an organization’s negligent hiring, supervision, or retention of predators.
And many of these cases could have been prevented if the organizations hadn’t tried to hide the abuse.
If an organization knows about abuse and covers it up, they could be found guilty of violation of duty of care.
Covering sexual abuse of children is a crime in many states.
How to Build a Safety System that Follows the Law
Taking preventative measures against abuse doesn’t have to be difficult.
These 5 steps are a great place to start:
First, create written child protection policies.
Your policies will guide your screening procedures, youth protection training, supervision guidelines, and reporting protocols.
Second, implement screening and background checks.
You can’t protect kids if you don’t know who you’re working with. Background checks should be done before any adult or teenager is allowed to work with children.
Third, train your staff and volunteers on prevention.
Part of your duty of care involves teaching others how to spot abuse and protect kids.
Fourth, have your system audited every year.
An annual third-party review of your safety procedures can catch problems before they become catastrophic.
Fifth, make sure your leadership buys in.
Leaders set the tone for prevention in an organization. If senior pastors, school leaders, or team coaches don’t take child safety seriously, others won’t either.
Wrap-Up
One of the most powerful things your organization can do to keep kids safe is understand the law.
When church leaders, schools officials, and team coaches know how the law defines duty of care, they’ll build safer environments for kids.
Remember:
Your church, school, or team has a legal responsibility to protect kids.
If your organization fails to meet the legal standard of care, you can face serious legal consequences.
Do your part to keep kids safe by knowing the law and building a comprehensive child protection system.
There are hundreds of children depending on your organization to keep them safe.
You have the power to make a difference.
