Stay informed, stay involved: here's one way of keeping up with what's happening in southern Haiti. Please consider supporting our mission to save orphans and vulnerable children from desperate poverty; contributions can be sent to our partners at Free the Kids - www.freethekids.org. Thank you for your help.
Monday, May 9, 2011
Gratitude
I've received a mess of good wishes from many fine people... mostly via facebook. Thank you for your thoughtfulness. Your support and prayers are greatly appreciated. God bless you all.
I am hoping you will send me a copy of the section of your Policies and Procedures Manual that pertains to child sex abuse.
I am glad to speak with you via email. I can be reached at kendrickpt@aol.com.
Paul Kendrick Freeport, Maine
________________________
On May 3, 2011, Father Marc Boisvert said... Our Policies and Procedures Manual clearly states that any action leading to the abuse of a child is not tolerated. Employees, volunteers and visitors are all required to sign a Code of Conduct which is explicit. Behavior that demeans a child or is abusive in any way will lead to immediate consequences. We have had to fire several employees and teachers because of physical abuse disguised as discipline. Our employees and children partake in regular training sessions that deal with this topic and the children are encouraged to report any questionable behavior to their housemother, teacher or coordinator. The report goes to our ChildCare Director, Mrs Bernonie Rocheville, who investigates the situation. If she feels there was a question of abuse, the Executive Committee is made aware and a decision is made to contact the Department of Human Services. Because they do not have the necessary resources available to them, the folks at the United Nations Human Rights Office are often called in to help with the investigation. The National Police now have a Protective Service for Children Department and are always available to assist. I hope this abbreviated response to your important question is satisfactory. When pulling these systems and procedures together we were hard pressed to find another shelter/orphanage that could help us so we looked on-line and found some really good stuff which we integrated. Training sessions run by outside agencies have helped the department heads and Executive Committee become better adept at identifying behaviors in the children that could indicate there's a problem going on. I'd say that we have a good handle on this but we are certainly open to becoming more proficient in defending the children's rights and would welcome any assistance.
Mr. Chad Scott, Vice-President of Free the Kids, is here this week. He and FTK's President, Bill Commer, will be in touch with you upon Chad's return to the states. I'm sure that they'll be able to address any concerns you may have. Thank you for your collaboration.
BTW, the idea of a 24 hour hotline is very good. Your organization may want to approach Digicel, the largest cell phone company here, with this idea. They do a lot of humanitarian projects. This hotline could serve as you suggest and be good public relations for them to boot.
Dear Marc,
ReplyDeleteI am hoping you will send me a copy of the section of your Policies and Procedures Manual that pertains to child sex abuse.
I am glad to speak with you via email. I can be reached at kendrickpt@aol.com.
Paul Kendrick
Freeport, Maine
________________________
On May 3, 2011, Father Marc Boisvert said...
Our Policies and Procedures Manual clearly states that any action leading to the abuse of a child is not tolerated. Employees, volunteers and visitors are all required to sign a Code of Conduct which is explicit. Behavior that demeans a child or is abusive in any way will lead to immediate consequences. We have had to fire several employees and teachers because of physical abuse disguised as discipline. Our employees and children partake in regular training sessions that deal with this topic and the children are encouraged to report any questionable behavior to their housemother, teacher or coordinator. The report goes to our ChildCare Director, Mrs Bernonie Rocheville, who investigates the situation. If she feels there was a question of abuse, the Executive Committee is made aware and a decision is made to contact the Department of Human Services. Because they do not have the necessary resources available to them, the folks at the United Nations Human Rights Office are often called in to help with the investigation. The National Police now have a Protective Service for Children Department and are always available to assist. I hope this abbreviated response to your important question is satisfactory. When pulling these systems and procedures together we were hard pressed to find another shelter/orphanage that could help us so we looked on-line and found some really good stuff which we integrated. Training sessions run by outside agencies have helped the department heads and Executive Committee become better adept at identifying behaviors in the children that could indicate there's a problem going on. I'd say that we have a good handle on this but we are certainly open to becoming more proficient in defending the children's rights and would welcome any assistance.
Mr. Chad Scott, Vice-President of Free the Kids, is here this week. He and FTK's President, Bill Commer, will be in touch with you upon Chad's return to the states. I'm sure that they'll be able to address any concerns you may have. Thank you for your collaboration.
ReplyDeleteBTW, the idea of a 24 hour hotline is very good. Your organization may want to approach Digicel, the largest cell phone company here, with this idea. They do a lot of humanitarian projects. This hotline could serve as you suggest and be good public relations for them to boot.
ReplyDelete