Child safety
The promise we make first.
Whether you’re a parent considering our program or a funder considering our organization, this page matters.
The rule that does not bend
Two trained adults. Every session. No exceptions.
A young person is never alone with a single adult in our program. Not for a ride, not for a make-up session, not because someone is running late. Every circle runs with two background-checked, trained facilitators present.
One of our two weekly sessions runs online, and the rule does not soften there. Two trained adults join every virtual session, and no facilitator holds a one-to-one video call, direct message, or private chat with a young person. Same rule, second medium.
This is the single most effective safeguard a youth-serving organization can adopt, and it is the one most often waived when a program is short-staffed. We would rather cancel a session than run it with one adult.
Before anyone meets a child
Screening
- A written application and interview for every adult, with no exceptions.
- Colorado Bureau of Investigation background check and fingerprinting for every adult.
- Reference checks, contacted and documented.
- A signed code of conduct that outlines expected behavior, prohibited conduct, safety and wellbeing, confidentiality and privacy, accountability and reporting procedures.
Before anyone leads a session
Required training
- Youth protection and boundaries
- Mandated reporter duties under Colorado law
- Trauma-informed practice
- Running a safe online session: access control, what is visible on camera, and what to do when something is disclosed through a screen
- The curriculum itself, so nobody improvises with a room full of children
If something happens
There is one path, and everyone knows it.
- 1
Youth safety comes first
Immediate risk means emergency services, before anything else and before any internal process.
- 2
Same-day report to the safeguarding lead
Any disclosure or concern goes to our designated safeguarding lead the same day it arises.
- 3
Mandated reporting
Our staff and facilitators are mandated reporters under Colorado law. Where the law requires a report to authorities, it is made. That duty sits above the organization's interests, always.
- 4
Written record and review
Every incident is documented, reviewed by the board, and used to improve our practices where necessary.
To raise a safeguarding concern directly, contact us at info@foreverbecomingyouth.org or 720-819-5740. If a child is in immediate danger, call 911 first.
Data and consent
A child's information is not marketing material.
We collect only what the program needs, and we keep it locked down. School records are accessed only with a signed release. Survey data is used to measure whether the program works, reported in aggregate, and never sold, traded, or shared with anyone who is not delivering the program.
Photographs and stories require separate, specific written consent from a caregiver, and consent can be withdrawn at any time. A young person can decline to be photographed even if their caregiver has agreed, and that decision stands.
None of the photography currently on this website depicts a real participant. Portraits of our founders and board are real photographs, published with their consent. Every other image is AI-generated and illustrative, and this is labeled in the footer of every page. When we publish real images of real young people, it will be because they and their families chose it.
Our virtual safeguarding protocol is still being written. Which platform we use, who holds the meeting link, how a young person joins, what is recorded and for how long, and what a caregiver is asked to consent to are decisions the board will approve before the first circle meets. We have not served a young person yet. When that protocol is adopted we will publish it here, in the same plain language as the rest of this page. We would rather show you an unfinished page than a borrowed policy we have not actually adopted.
Our youth consent and assent forms are drafted and under review by counsel. Our full privacy policy is here.