The YMCA of The Greater Tri-Cities works in partnership with parents and guardians of children in Y programs to protect children from abuse.  To keep children in our programs safe, we have a series of measures in place to keep kids safe.  Our child protection policies are developed using the Praesidium Safety Equation framework.  To keep children in our programs safe, we take the following steps in our intensive screening of employees and volunteers:

• Conduct annual criminal history and sex offender registry checks are conducted on staff and volunteers.

• Conduct staff reference checks which include questions on the applicant's suitability to work with children.

• Require staff and volunteers to complete training on preventing, recognizing and responding to abuse. staff go through refresher training annually.

• Require staff and volunteers to agree to our child safety code of conduct which includes rules such as:
  • Prohibits staff and volunteers from being alone with a child; interactions must be observable and interruptible.
  • Restricts staff contact with children outside of YMCA programs (including babysitting, social networking, etc.).
  • Provides acceptable and unacceptable physical and verbal interactions.
  • Require allegations or suspicions of abuse be reported to the proper authorities in accordance with Washington State law.

• We continually evaluate and improve our child safe practices by conducting an in-depth child abuse prevention self-assessment using Know Your Score every two years.

• We share our policies with parents and the community to create a network that is equipped to know, see, and respond!