Programs and services that take place outside of an organization’s main physical location need special strategies to prevent abuse and handle any accusations that might arise. These offsite activities can be community-based services, where staff visit or support clients in their homes, workplaces, or other community settings. They can also include field trips where clients engage in activities or events at places not owned by the organization, but still under its supervision. Offsite programs face higher risks due to several factors: It’s often hard to keep an eye on large groups, especially ..read more

Since 2013, Praesidium has offered the Praesidium Helpline to assist organizations when responding to various questions related to abuse prevention. The Praesidium Helpline supports organizations in handling inappropriate or problematic youth-to-youth interactions, employee policy violations, incidents of sexual abuse, and more. Over the past ten years, Praesidium has consulted on over 1,500 calls. Every year, we analyze all incident data collected through the helpline to inform organizations on how they can prevent abuse and minimize inappropriate interactions between employees and consumers ..read more

Third-party organizations that utilize your organization’s facility or provide programming to your consumers can benefit everyone through collaboration and sharing of resources. However, giving unaffiliated individuals access to your facility or consumers also introduces risks. Third-party organizations are individuals or entities, not a part of, affiliated with, or legally connected to your organization. Entities who rent facilities, contract with your organization to provide services, or share a physical space with your organization are examples of third-party groups. Ensuring the appropria ..read more

Youth of all ages often spend most of their time throughout the week at school and in school activities such as music programs, sports programs, and more. Ensuring safe school environments must be a top priority throughout the school day and in all other programs offered to students and their families. Often, we see organizations face challenges in maintaining a safety culture in unique programs such as extracurricular activities that take place before and after school, in different locations, or even on weekends. When implementing abuse prevention policies and procedures at your school, it i ..read more

This 3-part series that began in May 2023 has focused on what healthcare systems need to consider related to the sexual abuse of patients in the care of physicians and other healthcare providers. The second blog focused on how offenders operate and how to manage access needed to offend.  This final installment focuses on leveraging policies and education to mitigate the other components an offender needs: privacy and control. According to the American Medical Association (AMA) Code of Medical Ethics, “a physician shall be dedicated to providing competent medical care, with compassion and ..read more

Praesidium was thrilled to host the 2023 Impact Summit this past September! Over 150 attendees joined Praesidium for three days in Grapevine, Texas, to learn from the Praesidium team, professionals across various industries, and experts on a diverse range of topics related to sexual abuse prevention. Praesidium’s Impact Summit also provided attendees the opportunity to network with other professionals working to make safer environments. At this year’s Impact Summit, sessions included information on: The latest research trends from academic experts; An analysis of abuse incidents across five i ..read more

One year after President Joe Biden signed the Eliminating Limits to Justice for Child Sex Abuse Victims Act, Governor Newsom signed California’s Assembly Bill 452 (AB 452) and Senate Bill 558 (SB 558), changing how survivors of child sexual abuse can seek justice. Learn more about this legislation and some available resources to support your organization. Legislation Summaries Signed in October 2023, AB 452 eliminates the civil statute of limitations for damages suffered from childhood sexual abuse. This new law will apply to future cases of alleged abuse that take place on and after Jan ..read more

The second piece in a 3-part series on what healthcare systems need to consider related to sexual abuse of patients in the care of physicians and other healthcare providers. The Institute of Medicine report “To Err is Human” placed a spotlight on patient safety in the 1990s. This report estimated that nearly 44,000-98,000 patients die from preventable errors in American hospitals each year. While patient safety and medical errors have been discussed at the federal level over the last few decades, sexual misconduct (which ranges from sexual harassment to sexual abuse) in healthcare is often not ..read more

Introduction to a 3-part series on what healthcare systems need to consider related to sexual abuse of patients in the care of physicians and other healthcare providers. “First, Do No Harm” is a minimum ethical requirement associated with the practice of modern medicine. It is not part of the original or modern versions of the Hippocratic oath, but the oath does contain language suggesting that the physician and their assistants should not cause physical or moral harm to a patient.1  This emphasis on “do no harm” is strongly tied to the physician-patient relationship  characterized b ..read more

You have your permissible purpose, disclosures, authorizations, and compliant procedures for running background and credit checks. What do you do if you need to reject someone based on the results you receive from the reporting agency? What is an Adverse Decision? Essentially, it’s a rejection. If you turn down an applicant for employment, promotion, raise, or retention based on the information in their background report, you must now follow a strict, two-part process to maintain compliance with the FCRA. Violations of this process are another highly litigated aspect of the FCRA. The class is ..read more