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	Internet Provides Resources on Child Safety, Abuse Prevention The Tidings [United States] December 1, 2006 http://www.the-tidings.com/2006/1201/resources.htm The Internet can be a source of important information about child safety and abuse prevention efforts undertaken by the Catholic Church. Many of these websites are updated frequently, and bear revisiting on a regular basis. The following list of sites is not comprehensive, but offers a snapshot of what types of information are available online. Many sites have links to other sites with related information. Content on some of these websites may not be suitable for young children, so parents and guardians may wish to consult the websites first in order to decide what information is appropriate for sharing with their children. VIRTUS: www.virtus.org VIRTUS® programs exist in most parishes of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles to assist the Church in creating a safe haven for children. Created by a private firm comprised mostly of Catholic professionals, VIRTUS programs seek to protect children and to greatly reduce the risk of child abuse by educating adults about the reality of sexual abuse and the warning signs of abuse; controlling access to children; and monitoring all programs. Awareness of the problem enables people within a community to discuss the reality of child sexual abuse openly. Breaking the silence about child sexual abuse is a critical first step to begin the process of education, prevention, and healing. A feature of VIRTUS' Protecting God's Children™ programs is an online continuing education component. While the majority of the VIRTUS website is geared toward continuing education for those persons who have already been through a training program (a password is needed to log on to most content), there is a great deal of information to be had that does not require signing in to access. For example, the brief article "Practical Advice for Parents on Preventing Child Sexual Abuse" discusses age-appropriate conversations parents can have with their children beginning with 18 months to 18 years as recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics. U.S. Bishops' Office of Child and Youth Protection: www.usccb.org/ocyp/index.shtml The U.S. Bishops' Office of Child and Youth Protection was established in 2002 and was assigned three central tasks: to assist each diocese and eparchy (Eastern Rite Churches) in implementing "Safe Environment" programs designed to ensure necessary safety and security for all children as they participate in church and religious activities; to oversee an audit process which measures the progress of all dioceses and eparchies in complying with the provisions of the "Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People"; and, to prepare a public, annual report describing the results of the audit process. The OCYP website provides access to complete texts of documents related to sexual abuse in the church and what the church has done and is doing across the nation to ensure the current and future safety of all of our children and young people. Newly posted this year: the revised 2006 "Essential Norms for Diocesan/Eparchial Policies Dealing with Allegations of Sexual Abuse of Minors by Priests or Deacons" as well as texts of the 2002 and 2006 norms set side by side for comparison. There also is a 2006 supplementary data analysis on the nature and scope of sexual abuse of minors by priests and deacons in the U.S. conducted the John Jay College of Criminal Justice. Archdiocese of Los Angeles: http://www.archdiocese.la/protecting/index.php This website provides information on the Archdiocese's Office of Assistance Ministry, which deals confidentially and compassionately with those who wish to report a claim of abuse and those who want support in healing from sexual abuse. There is also contact information for the Office of Safeguard the Children which assists parishes and Catholic schools to establish Safeguard the Children committees and to train clergy, religious, staff and volunteers in child abuse prevention. Upcoming training events are listed. The website also includes a link to the Archdiocese's 2004 Report to the People of God, which traces the evolution of the archdiocese's response to claims of sexual abuse by priests from 1930 to the present. The Tidings Newspaper (www.the-tidings.com) includes more in-depth news articles that provide background and context regarding the issue of sexual abuse and the church. The Tidings also provides an online compendium of weekly articles on abuse prevention, child safety and related issues for interested readers. L.A. County District Attorney "Protecting Our Kids": http://www.lada.tv/pok/ The Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office devotes a considerable amount of its website to providing resources on Internet safety for parents and children. The site acknowledges that "most children know more about the Internet than their parents do," and offers some frightening statistics to illustrate the potential danger of this knowledge gap, including: "Seventy-one percent of all parents stop monitoring their child's use of the Internet after the child turns 14, not knowing that 72 percent of all Internet-related missing children are 15 years of age or older." Internet predators take advantage of the lack of responsible adult supervision of their children's Internet usage. The District Attorney's website offers parents a primer on Internet terms and functions, explaining such things as the ABC's of online gaming, blogs and newsgroups. Practical information on how to talk to your children about the dangers of the Internet, how to control and monitor their use of the computer, and how to balance their privacy with parents' need to know are all to be found on this comprehensive website. This is the forty-fith in a series. This weekly series of feature stories, commentary and analysis is compiled and edited by an advisory group to the Media Relations Office of the Archdiocese, through which the articles are distributed. This article is updated from a previous issue.
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