Youth Protection

Youth Protection For Davis Park & Valley View Golf Courses

 

Davis County is committed to providing a safe environment for youth programs.  This document outlines requirements and best practices to ensure the safety of youth, employees, and staff.

 

Required Policies and Rules for Working with Youth

 

  1. Employees who perform functions or duties that regularly require interaction with minors MUST receive a Criminal Background Check from the Davis County Sheriff’s Office.  A signed release is required. Human Resources will coordinate this effort.
  2. Employees and volunteers who meet the above criteria and work with youth on an ongoing basis must have new Criminal Background Check every two years.
  3. Adequate training for employees must be provided to perform duties.  Training will vary depending on the duties of the position.
  4. Youth participants and a guardian must read and sign a Participant Code of Conduct.
  5. Guardians of youth participants must complete a Parental Liability Permission Form.
  6. Employees have a responsibility to recognize, respond to, and report Youth Protection violations and abuse. This includes violations or behaviors that put a youth’s safety or well being at risk.

Immediately report any violations to any of the following:

  1. Head Golf Professional (Davis Park – Zach Johnson; Valley View – Pete Stone ) Davis County Director of Golf, Dustin Volk
  2. Human Resources
  3. Davis County Attorney’s Office
  4. Davis County Commission Office
  5. Online reporting from the Davis County Website through a third party administrator: Lighthouse Services
  1. Employee Youth Rules:
    •  No physical contact with youth is allowed for instruction or any other purpose.
  1. All programs will be held in an open area that are easy to observe.
  2. Private, direct social media communication with youth via Twitter, Facebook, SnapChat, etc. is prohibited. Creating a public “group page” may be allowed for group communication or announcement type communication purposes.
  3. Direct communication with youth is never allowed. This includes but is not limited to phone calls, texting, or any social media type communication. To the extent individual communication is necessary, staff may contact parents or legal guardians.
  4. The recommended supervision ratio for on-site programs is one staff or volunteer for every ten youth (1:10).
  5. Staff should never be alone with youth. A “Two Deep” strategy having two or more adults supervise youth is highly recommended.
  6. Staff charged with supervising a group of youth must remain in sight and/or sound supervision of that group.
  7. To avoid youth-on-youth abuse, youth should not be left alone with another unrelated youth for more than a few minutes. For example, avoid leaving youth for prolonged periods in bathrooms or situations where they are not under visual supervision.
  8. Avoid placing youth of widely differing ages (more than 3 years) in the same group. If this is not possible, closely supervise the group for appropriate interactions.
  9. Youth should never be subjected to inappropriate adult conversations and topics, including but not limited to adult-oriented jokes or discussion. Staff should not use coarse or foul language around youth.