Guidance on Youth Safety Online
Part of UUA Youth Safety Guidelines
During the COVID-19 pandemic our congregational, regional and national youth programs are being quickly shifted to on-line spaces. This is important and life-giving. And we still want to make sure our youth are safe.Here are the guidelines we are using for UUA sponsored youth events, which are also helpful for congregations planning on line youth programming to adapt for their use.
All UUA adult volunteer and staff interaction with youth online must adhere to our current Social Media and Electronic Communication policy, our Photo Permission and Social Media policy still applies, adults must adhere to the Adult Code of Conduct, and youth and adult leaders must adhere to Adult and Youth Leaders Code of Ethics.
Here is the current guidance from UUA staff.
In This Section
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Checklist for Evaluating PlatformsFrom Youth Safety Guidelines
The following are some things UUA staff have considered when evaluating platforms. However, no platform is an ideal solution that meets all requirements. Is this a platform youth are willing to use? Can participation be limited to those registered for the program? Is there a way to verify the…
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Multigenerational Online SpaceFrom Youth Safety Guidelines
Parents/guardians are primarily responsible for supervising their children and youth’s participation in multigenerational spaces. This responsibility should be clearly communicated to parents so they can be sure their youth is signing in from a public space in the house (e.g….
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Guidance for Online EventsFrom Youth Safety Guidelines
Overview of guidance for online programs further details in UUA Online Rules and Policies Ask youth to register for on-line programs, with a kind of verification process including signed parent/guardian permission forms. We don’t want to allow adults posing as youth to join our youth spaces. For…
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Guidelines for UUA Larger Virtual EventsFrom Youth Safety Guidelines
Get a letter of reference from a DRE, Minister, or Congregational President. Check with Congregational Life staff to confirm that the letter of reference came from the right person. Only then send out the unique information for the event. Consider using a webinar mode rather than teleconferencing…
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UUA Online Rules and PoliciesFrom Youth Safety Guidelines
The below spell out specific policies for UUA online programs with links to the rest of the Youth Safety Guidelines where helpful for more details.
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Guidance on PlatformsFrom Youth Safety Guidelines
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Communication Procedures During EventsFrom Youth Safety Guidelines
In youth events, it’s important to set up communication processes that (1) avoid adults interacting one-on-one with youth; and (2) avoid making youth contact information public. One way to do that is to create a group phone texting number or email address that’s accessible to a group of leaders.
Get a print-friendly version of UUA Youth Safety Guidelines, including all sub-pages.