By Gregory Love and Kimberlee Norris Historical allegations — those that relate to alleged abuse occurring years or decades ago — have become common. In the past two decades, churches of all sizes have encountered sexual abuse allegations related to abusive behavior occurring at the hands of staff members or volunteers from the past. When […]
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Abuse + insurance • Federal & state law fails to protect kids • The importance of record keeping • Child sexual abuse + special needs
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Several states expand child protection laws By Gregory Love & Kimberlee Norris Preventing child sexual abuse in churches and child-serving programs continues to present a significant challenge. Sexual abusers have no visual profile, so the risk cannot be recognized visually — it can only be recognized behaviorally. These behaviors are known as the abuser’s […]
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Whether it’s employment practices, cyber liability, security, or financial protocols in a church, each risk must be viewed through a risk management prism — Reduce, Insure, Stop or Keep (R.I.S.K.) The same is true for child sexual abuse, the No. 1 risk churches face right now. REDUCING the risk Incidents of abuse in the Church […]
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By Eric Spacek April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month, making this a perfect time to review your organization’s policies and practices to protect children from sexual assault. With this in mind, we spoke with Eric Spacek, assistant vice president – Risk Control at Church Mutual Insurance Company, S.I.1, who outlines how organizations can help […]
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Protecting the MOST Vulnerable By Gregory Love & Kimberlee Norris In ministry programs, we make it a priority to ‘protect the least of these’ — the weak and vulnerable. If a child is viewed as vulnerable, then a special needs child is more vulnerable still. In fact, a child with a disability may be […]
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By Georgia McKnight, featuring Kimberlee Norris ‘Church Rocked by Sexual Abuse Allegations’ The headline stunned the members of a large evangelical church in western Pennsylvania. Church leaders took hundreds of telephone calls from members, media representatives and advocacy groups. Social media coverage was immediate and savage, with posts assuming the worst possible motives attributable to […]
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By Gregory Love & Kimberlee Norris Every year, it seems a particular organization or entity is embroiled in a sexual abuse crisis: the Catholic Church, USA Swimming, Penn State University, USA Gymnastics/Michigan State University, Hillsong Church, Ravi Zacharias Ministries, Boy Scouts of America… and the list goes on. This year, headlines are swirling around […]
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Proactive Communication ‘From the Front’ By Gregory Love & Kimberlee Norris In many churches, the topic of child sexual abuse is raised from the pulpit only in the context of an impending crisis within the ministry. Many ministry leaders hope to never need to address the issue of child sexual abuse from the pulpit. The […]
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By Gregory S. Love & Kimberlee D. Norris Youth Leader Arrested for Sexual Abuse of 14-Year-Old Girl screams the frontpage headline of a major metropolitan newspaper — yet again. As detectives investigate, several other teen girls come forward with additional allegations. Parents of students in the program express hurt, anger and bewilderment: how could this […]
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