Ensuring child safety is fundamental to the mission of BGCAS
The Safety and Wellbeing of Young People is Our Number One Priority
We work every day to create a safe, inclusive and fun environment so kids can have every opportunity to be successful in life. We have
no tolerance for inappropriate behavior of any kind, including child sexual abuse or misconduct, and we put resources behind that stance.
Culture of Safety: Boys And Girls Club Of American Samoa continually updates robust safety policies, programs and training for staff and volunteers to promote child safety and protect young people from threats in
our society. These resources include but are not limited to:
Safety Policies: Boys And Girls
Club Of American Samoa maintains comprehensive safety policies that protect youth, including but not limited to
policies on supervision, transportation, communication and prohibition of one-on-one contact.
24-hour Toll-free Child Safety Hotline: We
encourage all staff, members and families to report any incident or situation they feel is unsafe. Through our national partnership with Praesidium, one of the nation’s leading safety
experts, BGCAS members and staff have access
to a confidential 24-hour toll-free Child
Safety Hotline at 866-607-SAFE (7233) or SafeClub@Praesidiuminc.com.
Mandatory Background Checks: Mandatory criminal background checks are required upon hire and annually for every staff and board member at Boys And Girls Club Of American Samoa. In addition, criminal background checks are required for any volunteer who has direct, repetitive contact with children.
All potential employees and volunteers are run through the National Sex Offender Registry or Homeland Security.
Required Immediate Reporting: Boys And Girls Club Of American Samoa staff and volunteers are all mandated reporters and are required to report any critical incident/safety concern to local authorities immediately. We are
also required to report any critical incident to Boys & Girls Clubs of America within 24 hours.
Mandatory Annual Safety Assessments: We employ a multi-tiered safety assessment approach to ensure we continually make improvements to safety at our Club.
Safety Trainings: Ongoing training and supervision of staff are critical. We participate in a wide
variety of child safety training through online courses, seminars, conferences and webinars. We also engage leading third-party safety experts to provide guidance for our policies and approaches,
including Praesidium, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children and the National Children’s Advocacy Center.
Safety Committee: Boys And Girls Club Of American Samoa has a dedicated Board-led Safety Committee to provide input and guidance on local policies and safety strategies. Priorities and initiatives
include:
Mandatory Employee Reference: Any
employee interested in moving to another Boys & Girls Club is required to have a reference from their previous Club, even if the Clubs are within the same community.
State and Local Laws: We comply with federal, state and local safety laws, including those impacting facilities and
vehicles.
Safety Partnerships: Nationally, Boys &
Girls Clubs of America works with leading experts in the areas of
safety, security and technology to develop state-of-the-art solutions for Clubs. Partners include:
Locally, Boys and Girls Clubs of American Samoa partners with:
Continued Commitment: In July 2020, Boys & Girls Club organizations voted to adopt additional safety measures to further improve safety within our Clubs. Though many of these practices were already commonplace across our Movement, this vote made them mandatory for all Clubs. These include more stringent reference and background checks, enhanced Safety Committee requirements, stronger communication of key safety resources and information, and more. With unprecedented majority, on July 26, 2021, local Boys & Girls Clubs voted in record number to adopt additional membership requirements that further enhance child safety, implementing recommendations from RAINN that began in 2020 and will continue over the next two years - a demonstration of our continued commitment to keeping kids safe.
Nationally, Boys & Girls Clubs of America has advocated for passage of the U.S. PROTECT Act to improve background screening systems and access. The national organization has also partnered with
the FBI, the National Center for Missing &
Exploited Children and the Centers for Disease Control to support the development of safety practices that benefit ALL youth-serving organizations.
America’s young people deserve nothing less than our constant focus on their safety and
our firm commitment to protect every child who is entrusted to our care at Boys & Girls Clubs of American Samoa to learn more about our national safety policies and actions, please visit Boys & Girls Clubs of
America’s Child Safety
page.