rest Church has a zero tolerance policy in regards to child abuse and neglect. The National Committee for Prevention of Child Abuse designed the definitions below.
~Physical Abuse: Physical abuse can be defined as a non-accidental injury, which may include beatings, violent shaking, human bites, strangulation, suffocation, poisoning, or burns. The results may be bruises and welts, broken bones, scars permanent disfigurement, long-lasting psychological damage, serious internal injuries, brain damage or death.
~Physical/EmotionalNeglect: Physical/Emotional neglect is the failure to provide a child with basic needs including food, clothing, education, shelter, and medical care; also abandonment and inadequate supervision.
~Sexual Abuse: Sexual abuse is constituted through the sexual exploitation of a child by an older person as in rape, incest, fondling of the genitals, exhibitionism or pornography. It may be done for the sexual gratification of the older person, out of a need for power or economic reasons (such as prostitution, etc.).
~Emotional Maltreatment: A pattern of behavior that attacks a child’s emotional development and a sense of self worth, such as constant criticizing, belittling, insulting, manipulation. It can also be defined as providing no love, support, or guidance for the child. It is against the law and against rest Church’s policy for any volunteer or employed staff, male or female, to physically, sexually, or mentally abuse or neglect any child.
~Reporting Suspected Child Abuse: Familiarize yourself with the definitions and descriptions of child abuse listed above. If you suspect that a child involved in any of the programs of rest Church has been abused, the following procedure should be followed:
-Report the suspected abuse to a Pastor.
-Do not interview the child regarding the suspected abuse. This could be considered leading the child.
-Do not discuss the suspected abuse with other volunteers, parents, or anyone else.
-All information regarding the child should be kept confidential with your ministry leader and the proper authorities.
-You may be asked to complete a Suspected Child Abuse Report. Reporting child abuse is completely confidential. We are legally obligated to protect the children in our care, which means we are also legally obligated to report symptoms that indicate potential abuse. As a volunteer, this legal responsibility is shared with you – please make your team aware of any observations within 24 hours.
The Three Hurts – Your RSM pastor must be notified if one or more of the following has happened:
~A student is being hurt by someone else
~A student is hurting someone else.
~A student is hurting himself or herself. In any of these three cases, you must break confidentiality with your student so that a rest Church staff member can walk through the situation with you. The staff member will discuss with the volunteer/leader how to best inform the parents and discuss the situation with the appropriate people involved.