CALIFORNIA
The Tidings
November 13, 2015 – J.D. Long-García
Over the last 10 years, the Office of Safeguard the Children has trained more than 300,000 adults to protect children and young people from sexual abuse.
So many adults couldn’t have been trained without dedicated volunteers, according to Joan Vienna, coordinator of the Office of Safeguard the Children.
She calculates 2,171 volunteers have assisted with training, a number that includes 593 VIRTUS facilitators, 430 trainers of Teaching Touch Safety Leadership and more than 1,150 Safeguard the Children parish chairs.
“As we learn and grow, we get better at addressing the situation,” Vienna said. “We’re training children to be their own voice.”
VIRTUS’ “Protecting God’s Children” is a three-hour training for adults that teaches basic steps for child sexual abuse protection. It is mandated for all adults who work with or around children or youth on a regular basis.
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