Touch & Safety Form

Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Parish

Office of Religious Education
2640 E. Orange Grove Blvd.
Pasadena, CA  91107
(626) 792-6844

Dear Religious Education Families:

The Archdiocese of Los Angeles is committed to compliance with the U.S. Bishops’ Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People.  Article 12 of the Charter mandates that, “each diocese establish and maintain a Safe Environment Program for children and youth.”  In light of this, the VIRTUS Teaching Touching Safety Program for Children was adopted by the Archdiocese of Los Angeles in September, 2006.

WHAT WE ARE DOING

  • We will present an age-appropriate sexual abuse prevention program each year.  The lessons are presented to grades K-8.
  • The Touching Safety program was implemented in April, 2007 in our Religious Education classes.
  • The children will participate in these lessons during their regular class time.
  • This program is part of our ongoing effort to help create and maintain a safe environment for children and to protect all children from sexual abuse.
  • This is an age-appropriate safety program which involves teaching children about touching safety.
  • This program is NOT a sex education program.
  • Touching safety begins with education and understanding.  For example, bicycle safety starts with knowing how a bicycle works and understanding the safety risks involved with bicycling.  When we have competency in those two areas, we can create a safety program which teaches children and others how to protect against the risks of harm associated with cycling.  Touching safety is the same.
  • This program will help children learn appropriate relationship boundaries and how to protect themselves from violators.
  • By teaching touching safety, we can empower children to respond in the best possible ways when those boundaries are violated.
  • The program also teaches children about respecting their own health and safety, and respecting the health and safety of others.
  • Touching Safety lessons 3 and 4 will be presented in the fall. 

PARENT RESPONSIBILITIES

  • If you DO NOT want your child to participate, please complete an “OPT OUT” form available in the Religious Education Office.
  • If you choose to opt out and your child does not participate in the touching safety program, you will be responsible for teaching the subject matter to your child.

If you have questions about the program, please feel free to contact the Religious Education Office at (626) 792-6844.

God Bless!

The Religious Education Ministry Team

For more information visit the VIRTUS Online™ website at www.virtus.org.