Child Protection a Permanent Concern for Archdiocese
By Jon DeBellis
The safety and protection of children in the Archdiocese of Portland is forever on the mind of Cathy Shannon, director of the Child Protection Office for the archdiocese. That’s her job. But, says Shannon, children also are kept safe because of the work of the people and staff in parishes, a lay-run review board and national support from other diocesan offices. “Children are safer because of the efforts of a great many people,” says Shannon. “And we intend on keeping it that way.” Since 1995, employee background checks have been a requirement in hiring procedures for those working with children and since 2002, a background check for volunteers working with minors has been required. In keeping in compliance with the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Charter for the Protection of Children, the background checks are just part of the equation. Also required for volunteers and staff is training using the safe environment and protection program named “Called to Protect,” by Praesidium, Inc. For adults, this program teaches about the warning signs of possible sexual abuse or boundary violations with minors, and how to respond to those warning signs. Once this training is completed, those working with children four or more times per year are also required to complete an annual online course called Armatus. Most recently, the archdiocese has started using a video program about sex trafficking of minors, produced by Shared Hope International of Vancouver, Wash., in an effort to engage high school students and encourage people from the community to build education regarding sex trafficking. After hackers tapped into volunteers’ tax information through the background check company the archdiocese was using, the office switched, hiring Praesidium to run background checks, too. “Now the process is streamlined,” said Shannon. “Individuals can submit their own information for their background checks through a secure online connection in the privacy of their own home instead of sending the information along a paper trail.” The office just finished a revision of the archdiocese’s Child Protection Policy, to align with state law. Now all employees in the church are mandatory reporters and must report suspicions or information regarding child sex abuse to the Department of Health Services or Child Protective Services. The office continues to ask all volunteers to voluntarily report. For Molly Teeter, coordinator of children’s faith formation at St. Matthew Church in Hillsboro, the tracking of training and background checks for the parish’s more than 200 volunteers has been a chore, but with the help of business manager Becky Smith, a procedure has been created to keep everything organized and up to date. The parish has a staff representative for each volunteer area, helping keep track of religious education and sacrament preparation as well as standards of conduct, background checks and child protection training. Staff created a database of all volunteers to keep track of who needs renewal training. Teeter is excited about the archdiocese’s move to work with Praesidium on background checks, saying the company is superb at sending reminders about training, which along with database keeps the parish’s bases covered. The parish also purchased a badge maker. All staff have a badge with a current date and picture on it. For volunteers and staff, anyone who’s okayed to work with money gets a green badge. For those who work with children, the badge is blue. “We needed a quick visual solution,” said Teeter. “This way we can see who is legit quickly.” At the Madeleine School in Northeast Portland, Principal Susan Steele is in charge of training and background checks. She maintains that staff and volunteers at the school, which currently has 255 students enrolled, is following directives. Training is offered at the beginning of the school year for volunteers and staff who need it. If anyone can’t attend the parish-offered training, they are directed to the archdiocesan website, archdpdx.org, for a list of trainings throughout the week. Steele keeps her own records of those who need updates on their training an background checks and culls the list quarterly to look for people who need a reminder to update their status. “The best part of this whole process has been the increase in parent awareness — warning signs to look for in your child; if they’re spending too much time with an adult unsupervised and then what to do,” says Steele, who says she doesn’t mind the extra steps for children’s safety. The archdiocese is not alone in the implementation of this process. A national conference, the National Safe Environment/Victims Assistance Conference, is held annually for child protection offices around the country where information and knowledge is shared. That conference has led to regional relationships as well. Shawna McMahon, safe environment program coordinator for the Archdiocese of Seattle, participates in a conference call with Shannon from the Archdiocese of Portland every month to check up on how things are going. “We talk about everything,” says McMahon. “From issues coming up in our own dioceses to just basic information sharing on processes and implementation.” The conference calls also help out smaller dioceses, like Boise, Yakima or Baker, who cannot afford to attend the national conference, says McMahon. “It’s about connecting with others who do the same work, and since the protection of children is our utmost concern, making sure that work gets done right.” Allen Reel, a member of the ministry review board for the Archdiocese of Portland, agrees with that statement. After serving on the lay review board since 2002, he’s still surprised at the number of Catholics and non-Catholics who don’t know about the work being done across the country by the Church to keep children safe. “People are always saying ‘the church needs to get serious about this,’” says Reel, a Beaverton attorney and member of St. Cecilia Parish for 44 years. “The church in America has done a good job in the past 10-15 years working on the problems — we have been serious for quite some time.” Reel was handpicked by Msgr. Dennis O’Donovan, former vicar general of the Archdiocese of Portland, to serve after reading a letter the attorney wrote to the Oregonian regarding the clergy sex abuse crisis. “Our main job is to advise the archbishop when there are any allegations of potential abuse against a member of the clergy, and to assist the bishop in assessing policies in regard to the protection of children — that includes anyone who volunteers and works at church as well as clergy and staff,” said Reel, who is also an oblate at Mount Angel Seminary. Reel says the board provides a sounding board for the archbishop and serves as a good set of eyes and ears to help evaluate things. In the beginning, he says, the board’s work was mostly about allegations and complaints and the response to them, but now, with one or two exceptions the work has shifted to making sure the work is done to make sure history doesn’t repeat itself. “I think there has to be a continual effort to keep awareness of this issue in the forefront,” says Reel. “It’s being done in the schools, the seminary and at the parish level, but there is always room for improvement.”
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