The mission of the Safe Environment Office is to implement Articles 6, 12 and 13 of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, 2002. The Charter set forth that all dioceses/eparchies were to have clear and well-publicized standards of behaviors and boundaries (Article 6), maintain safe environment programs for all children and adults (Article 12), and evaluate the background of all lay employees, clergy and all volunteers who would have contact with children (Article 13).
HistoryThe Safe Environment office of the Archdiocese of Chicago was created in January 2007 to ensure compliance with Articles 6, 12 and 13 of the USCCB Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People.
Services ProvidedThe Safe Environment Office provides the following services:
- Virtus/Protecting God’s Children Facilitator Training
- Virtus/Protecting God’s Children Training for Adults
- Safe Environment Training for Children
- Train site administrators at parishes and schools on the use of Virtus and the electronic criminal background check systems
- Monitoring of the Criminal Background Check System
- Mandated Reporter training
- Internet Safety training
- Provide oversight for compliance with the USCCB Charter to 225 Elementary Schools, 40 High Schools and 400 Parishes, Shrines and Missions.
- Over 61,000 lay employees, clergy and volunteers have attended Virtus/ Protecting God’s Children Training for Adults.
- Over 170 members of the Archdiocese of Chicago have been trained as Facilitators for Virtus/Protecting God’s Children Training for Adults.
- Over 61,000 Background Check applications have been submitted and processed.
Any person in a position of trust in the Archdiocese- Employees, Clergy and Volunteers- must complete the following:
- Criminal Background Check
- Attend Virtus/Protecting God’s Children Training for Adults
- Read the Code of Conduct and sign the Personnel Acknowledgment form
And
All clergy, employees and volunteers who work with children must also:
- Complete the Child Abuse Neglect Tracking System form (CANTS) and submit it to the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services.
All of the above are online at www.archchicago.org under the Protecting Children section.
Contact Information Post Office Box 1979
Chicago, Illinois 60690-1979
312-534-5254
312-751-8307, fax