Protecting God's Children^TM

The Diocese of St. Augustine has mandated that all priests, staff, and volunteers who come in consistent contact with children complete a Protecting God's Children course. The program was developed over the course of several years by child abuse experts and advocates and has been implemented in dioceses throughout the United States.

Each session is led by a trained facilitator and lasts approximately 3 hours. Participants must be present for the ENTIRE 3 hours to get credit for attending the session. The sessions consists of  a pair of videos that outline the problem of child sexual abuse as well as steps that can be taken to prevent it from happening in our parish or any public areas where our children are. Follow-up discussions then answer questions and provide suggestions for practical applications of the information.

Protecting God's Children:

• DOES NOT point fingers at groups of people
• IS NOT a course for parents to learn how to better protect their children at home (although the information can certainly be applied).
• IS NOT appropriate for children - it does not teach techniques for children to protect themselves
• IS NOT pretty - child sexual abuse is an ugly problem that must be recognized for what it is before we can start to move forward in preventing it

Protecting God's Children: DOES teach how to spot specific situations and behaviors that can lead to unsafe situations for our children IS designed for anyone who supervises other people's children IS designed for adults - teenage volunteers who must attend need to bring a parent or guardian with them. IS hopeful - it provides solid information, on-going training, and ideas for implementing safer policies in our parish, schools, and other public places.

Upcoming Sessions at Queen of Peace:

• Please call the church office for schedule

You may also attend any session offered at another parish.

How to Register

• Log on to www.virtus.org (Go ahead and do it now, it will come up in a separate window and you can continue to follow these instructions)
• Click on the yellow word, REGISTRATION in the green area on the left side of the screen
• The form then asks for the Diocese -- select "St. Augustine, FL (Diocese)"  and click on "Select"
• On the next page, follow the instructions to create a Username and Password
• Fill in your information on the next page. The questions with the red asterisk must be answered. "Your Location" refers to the place you perform your volunteer ministry. If you volunteer at more than one location (such as both Queen of Peace Academy and the parish, or for another diocesan organization), you will be given the option to select another organization after you select the first one. If are a volunteer, but not a member of Queen of Peace, you still need to select one of the options. When complete, click on SUBMIT
• On the next page, you are asked to select the role(s) you play within the diocese. You can select more than one option. Click on CONTINUE when you are done.
• On the next page, you are presented with a list of 3 questions. Select the appropriate answers and click on CONTINUE when you are done.
• Then, you are asked whether you have ever attended a Protecting God's Children session. You will probably click NO here.
• You will then see a list of all classes available throughout the Diocese. Select the one of your choice, click on COMPLETE REGISTRATION and you are done! Please make sure to arrive on time on the date of the session.

If you have problems registering via the website, please call the office

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 To report problems/broken links on this website contact: Chris Montrowl