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Hello, and welcome back to the 2024 Safe and Secure training.
I'm Somer Novak, a.k.a. the PARA,
and here with me again this year is Dr. Chitwood and Dr. Lafferty
to share a quick word before we begin this training.
Well, thank you, Somer.
We're embarking on yet another year of our continuous efforts
in creating a safe and secure environment
for our children and the children we serve all over the world.
And we remain firm in our commitment to raising the bar
in the area of abuse prevention and response.
We understand the value of the children under our care,
and we commit to doing all we can to protect them.
This is a team effort,
and we know that to ensure the safety and care for our children,
we must all do our part.
We're thankful for you
and thankful that you are taking this training and applying it
in your place of work and ministry.
Amen.
Like Paul mentioned, we're all thankful that over the past few years,
you have truly taken the information in this training,
along with our guidelines for child safety,
and worked extremely hard in putting them into practice.
We do this training to protect our children and those we serve.
Through this training process,
the likelihood of harm to our children has been decreased,
and the opportunity for children
to enjoy a childhood free from abuse has increased.
I'm thankful for the support of our leadership here, overseas as well,
as we all work as one team
to see our children and those children that we serve protected from abuse.
As you go through this course, please take the time to truly think through
how these policies and prevention methods affect you in your work.
Ask yourself,
is there anything I could be doing to help raise the bar in our prevention efforts?
Or is there anything that I, as an individual,
or we as a team need to change to better protect our children?
As always, please feel free to reach out to me with any questions or concerns.
Thank you for your participation and partnership
in creating a safe and secure environment for our children.
When you're ready, let's begin.