Safeguarding
What every adult agrees to.
Our participants include 16 and 17 year olds. These standards apply to every mentor, volunteer, board member, and staff member without exception.
Before anyone meets a young person
A criminal background check, rerun annually, including a check against the national sex offender registry.
Two reference checks, contacted by us directly.
An interview with the program lead.
Training covering trauma-informed practice, boundaries, recognizing abuse, and how to report it.
How adults and young people interact
No adult meets one-on-one with a participant under 18 in a private setting. Meetings happen in program spaces or public places, with another adult present or aware.
Contact happens through channels the Foundation can see. No private messaging with a minor.
No gifts, money, transportation, or housing arranged privately between an adult and a participant outside the program.
No romantic or sexual contact with any participant, of any age, ever. This is a permanent bar, not a probation.
Reporting
Utah law requires any person who suspects a child is being abused or neglected to report it. Every adult here is trained on how, and is expected to report directly rather than routing concerns through us first.
Utah Child Abuse and Neglect Hotline: 1-855-323-3237
We tell young people this rule up front, in plain language, before they share anything with us.
If something goes wrong
Concerns can be raised with the Foundation directly, or with any board member, without going through the person you are worried about.
We remove an adult from contact while a concern is reviewed. That is not a finding of guilt, it is what protecting a young person requires.
No young person will be asked to repeat a disclosure more times than necessary.
This policy will be reviewed by counsel and by a qualified child protection advisor before our first cohort. If you have expertise here and see something missing, we want to hear it. Tell us.