School personnel get Safe Environment training

On Aug. 18, Catholic school principals and program and athletic directors attended the Safe Environment and Human Resource issues presentation as part of professional development program for the 2017-18 school year. The presentation was held at St. Patrick's Our Lady of Knock Hall.
 
Stephanie Bonilla, director of the Office for Safe Environment and Child and Family Resources for the Diocese of Corpus Christi, said that everyone in the schools need to be on alert to ensure all the schools have a safe environment for children.
 
"We need to be looking at individuals—working or volunteering—and make sure they've met our safe environment requirements the diocese has in place," she said, adding that all personnel should have had a background check prior to taking the Safe Environment training. "The blue card should come after the fact–meaning they have been cleared with a background check."
 
"We are here to walk them through it—after or before. The bottom line is we want to teach people to make that report and if you need help or you just don't quite know if it's enough that's where we can help you," Bonilla said. "We are always going to air on the side of caution."
 
Bonilla said if there is reasonable suspicion of abuse, then teachers, staff and volunteers need to report it to Child Protective Services (CPS) at (800) 252-5400 or www.txabusehotline.org. They can also report it on the diocesan website at www.diocesecc.org/reporting-abuse. There is also a “Report Suspected Abuse” button under Quick Links on the diocesan website.
 
Bonilla’s office also offers support in regards to social service referrals and assistance to support school personnel overcome any hurdles they are dealing with in regards to the safety of the children in their care. "As a Church community—as a Catholic community of schools—we are able to help them at a far greater, more personal level than a public school, because we are going to direct them to their pastor or if they don't have one, find a home parish to get some spiritual direction, pastoral counseling and then maybe some additional counseling—outside clinical counseling—for individuals and families, for children and their parents," Bonilla said.
 
"If they are struggling with anything and everything in regards to finances, addictions or a family member’s addiction, contemplation of parents’ divorce or separation or grandparents raising grandchildren. These are examples of where our office can help the staff to invariably avoid a situation where a child is acting out in the classroom," Bonilla said.
 
"We want to make them whole and help them in any way we can—like putting them in contact with resources like Catholic Charities and all the services they can offer. That's not something that is offered in a public school setting," she said.
 
For more information call Bonilla at (361) 693-6686.