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1. Drivers for church-sponsored activities must be properly licensed, _______, provide driving record in advance, and ensure that seatbelts are used.
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2. Child abuse is a problem that affects children of all ethnic and economic backgrounds; yet the most common response of the public to this problem is _______.
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3. Name four kinds of child abuse:
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4. If an individual _______, s/he will not be permitted to work with children.
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5. Name four types of volunteers who will be trained on the Safe Church policy:
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6. List three practices to be adhered to as barriers to abuse in all aspects of our youth programs:
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7. Name two possible signs of Physical child abuse:
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8. Name two possible signs of Emotional child abuse:
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9. Name two possible signs of Sexual child abuse:
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10. Name two possible signs of Neglect child abuse:
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11. Name two possible signs of Physical elderly abuse or Physical abuse of developmentally challenged:
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12. Name two possible signs of Emotional elderly abuse or Emotional abuse of developmentally challenged:
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13. Name two possible signs of Financial elderly abuse or Financial abuse of developmentally challenged:
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14. All _______ and _______ involved with children or youth in any capacity are classified as mandatory reporters of suspected child abuse.
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15. Whenever a concern of inappropriate adult/child behavior is witnessed or otherwise understood, the mandatory reporting agent will, that same day, report the suspected abuse via the telephone to _______ or online at _______.
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16. If a known sex-offender wishes to participate in church activities, how many times each calendar year shall that person meet with and report to the Safe Church Coordinator regarding his/her status of adherence to these guidelines?
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JOHNNY’S STORY: Ten-year-old Johnny’s family was new in town and they quickly joined their local church. School was going well, and Johnny tried out for all the school sports teams, but did not make even one. Junior Choir at church was not appealing and many times he felt like he didn’t understand what was going on in Sunday School. His parents encouraged him to try the church youth ministry, and with the encouragement of Mr. Dave, the church’s Youth Director, Johnny found his place. Johnny began to look forward to the Sunday evening youth gathering. Even his parents noticed that his faith flourished as Johnny became more and more involved in the youth activities. Mr. Dave, who had been the church youth director for so many years that no one could even count, suggested that Johnny would be good at helping plan the meetings and activities for the group. Johnny felt important and was assured by Mr. Dave that he was responding to a ‘calling.’ His mom dropped him off on Wednesdays after supper to meet with Mr. Dave. Mr. Dave and Johnny were often seen together, busily engaged in the tasks of ministry around the church. Everyone seemed pleased that this wonderful family man and church trustee, who devoted so much of his time to the church, would spend this quality time with Johnny. Within six months, however, Johnny’s interest in the youth group seemed to diminish. One Sunday, the Sunday school superintendent noted that Johnny seemed to be hanging out in the hallways by himself when he should be in class, but she hesitated to talk to the boy or his parents. Maybe he was on special assignment with Mr. Dave, she thought to herself. One of the church members who lived in the neighborhood thought she saw the boy walking around the neighborhood on Sunday evenings. Shouldn’t the boy be inside attending the youth events, she wondered to herself. At dismissal time, however, Johnny would be at the pick- up point outside church. One day while talking with a neighbor, Johnny’s mom learned he had spent the previous weekend with the neighbor’s son. “I don’t understand,” she said, “he had registered months ago and couldn’t wait for this youth event at our church! We dropped him off at the church for the overnight youth lock-in and Mr. Dave said he would bring Johnny home.” When his mom questioned him about why he had not attended the youth event, Johnny said the ministry was ‘boring’ and he decided to go to his friend’s house instead. Upset that her son was not honest about where he had spent the night, she became even more upset that no one in the youth ministry had called the home to report her son was registered but absent from the event. Johnny began to spend a lot of time alone in his room. His parents repeatedly questioned him and tried to trace potential sources of these behavioral changes. One day on his way out to school, Johnny wrote a question down and left it for his mom before he left. The note simply said, “What does it mean if you are molested?” His parents began to have strong suspicions that someone in the church could be hurting their son. They made an appointment with Pastor Tomlinson immediately. Everything pointed to Mr. Dave, the youth director, but Pastor Tomlinson said that he, himself, was right next door working with the confirmation class when Mr. Dave and Johnny were working on their youth group activities. Mr. Dave denied the allegations when confronted, and the pastor assumed that the boy’s accusations were unfounded. Perhaps the boy was having trouble in school or just living out some fantasy. Without sufficient evidence, Pr. Tomlinson concluded that he just could not pursue this matter any further. But Pastor Tomlinson did offer to help the family counsel their troubled son and referred them to a local pastoral counselor, Dr. Smith. Dr. Smith had at least one conversation with Rev. Tomlinson, after which he documented all of the information carefully in his clinical notes. But Dr. Smith took no further action after three sessions with Johnny and his parents. Five weeks from the time they received Johnny’s note, his parents became more and more troubled by the lack of responsiveness of the pastoral counselor, and both were deeply troubled by their son’s continued withdrawal, sleeplessness, and dropping grades in school. Finally, his parents called the police in their township as well as their local news station. After an intense investigation it was determined that Mr. Dave had been engaged in inappropriate sexual behavior with Johnny. Mr. Dave was arrested, tried, convicted, and sentenced to a lengthy prison term. The Dave family moved away, as did Johnny’s family, who also sued their church, their synod, the pastor, and Dr. Smith, the pastoral counselor. The church as well as the licensed clinical pastoral counselor settled out of court with Johnny’s family. The pastor applied for a new calling in a neighboring county. Dr. Smith took a sabbatical. The church’s youth group was disbanded.
17. Short Essay Question One: Choose one of these four questions to answer.
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Short Essay One Response
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18. Short Essay Question Two: Choose one of these four questions to answer.
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Short Essay Two Response:
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