Teens Protection

At The Queen’s Foundation, the safety and well-being of every child we serve in Houston is our highest priority—a commitment we uphold today and every day.

We know that today

  • Young girls in the Houston. experience sexual abuse by the age of 18.
  • 90 % of Teen who are abused know the abuser.
  • There are more than 42 million survivors of child sexual abuse in the U.S. Yet, many child victims may never disclose their abuse.
  • 1 in 5 children is solicited sexually on the Internet before the age of 18.

Yet, when adults collectively understand the risks and red flags of child sexual abuse, we can do more to keep kids safe. When we all take action, abuse is preventable.

Our Commitment to Teens Protection

As a youth-focused organization, The Queen’s Foundation is committed to creating safe, nurturing environments for every child and teen we serve. The idea that any young person could be harmed in our care is simply unacceptable. Protecting their safety and well-being is at the heart of everything we do, so they can confidently learn, grow, and thrive.

How We Create Safe Spaces Teens

As an organization, we have taken the following actions to keep kids safe in our facilities, camps and programs and maintain the reputation of safety we have built during our 175-year history.

  1. We are required to implement child sexual abuse prevention practices and policies to remain a member in good standing with the National Council of Queen”s Foundation. These requirements include:
  • Completing a child abuse prevention self-assessment at least every two (2) years and implement an Action Plan to address opportunities for improvement.  
  • Having a policy that requires criminal background checks for staff and volunteers 
  • Providing and requiring annual training for staff and high-access volunteers on preventing and responding to youth-to-youth sexual activity and adult-to-child sexual activity or abuse  
  • In addition to requiring all staff and volunteers to report child abuse in accordance with applicable laws, all allegations of sexual abuse or victimization of minors (under 18) involving Y staff, volunteers, members or participants must be reported to the appropriate authorities.  
  • Having a policy that requires screening all adults against a national sex offender registry and written protocol for how to respond when adults are identified as registered sex offenders 
  • Implementing policies that define boundaries with youth  
  • Implementing procedures for identifying and managing high-risk activities  
  • Assigning youth protection to a leadership staff member’s responsibility and a committee’s chart of work  
  • Reporting the following events to Queen’s Foundation:
    • Allegations and/or criminal charges of child abuse, child sexual exploitation, or child sexual misconduct involving a current or former staff, volunteer, or members.
    • Allegations of sexual abuse, sexual exploitation, or sexual misconduct between youth participants in attendance at Queen’s Foundation activities.
  1. We engage external experts in abuse prevention (Praesidium) to work with all 2,600 across the country and provide access to a comprehensive self-assessment as well as best practices in screening, training, supervision and reporting practices. 
  2. We partner with passionate Queen’s Foundation leaders who facilitate peer-to-peer learning and continuously improve and strengthen abuse-prevention efforts. Specifically, we work alongside the Queen’s Foundation Champions for Child Protection — a collective of Queen’s Foundation CEOs committed to activating the power of the Queen’s Foundation and other youth-serving organizations to engage communities, improve internal operations and advance policy and environmental change to protect children from sexual abuse. 
  3. We work closely with strategic partners to advance federal policies that seek to protect children from various forms of abuse and neglect.