Darlington School has achieved Partner in Prevention status, a designation awarded by the nonprofit Darkness to Light to organizations that take extra steps to protect the children they serve by training staff to understand the issue of child sexual abuse, identify unsafe situations and practices, and react responsibly in the best interest of children.
Darlington earned the Partner in Prevention designation by providing Stewards of Children® training to over 90% of its management, staff, and volunteers. This evidence-informed program is scientifically proven to help participants prevent and respond to child sexual abuse.
"I am proud of our faculty and staff for their engagement in this program, and most especially in their desire and efforts to help children develop into confident young men and women," said Head of School Brent Bell. "We look forward to a long partnership with the Darkness to Light organization, and I encourage any organization that works with children to consider participating."
Partner in Prevention was created as a national standard to help parents and caregivers recognize organizations that take child protection seriously by implementing policy and training staff to prevent child sexual abuse. Currently, Darlington is the largest organization in Floyd County to train its employees through this program.
"Darlington School is really to be commended for their commitment and engagement with regard to training all their staff and for connecting even further to help make a difference in the community,” said Steve Fallin, regional prevention coordinator for the Georgia Center for Child Advocacy. “Darlington's administration has reached out for technical assistance to make sure they have done a thorough policy and procedure update and review. They have established clear guidelines for their child abuse reporting protocols and have created a Code of Conduct that is signed by all of their staff. It has been a pleasure working with everyone at Darlington to help ensure the safety of all the children they serve.”
Darkness to Light is an international organization that leads the movement to end child sexual abuse by educating and empowering adults in education, youth serving organizations, and communities to protect children. It has affiliates in all 50 states and 17 international locations.
To learn more about Darkness to Light’s Partner in Prevention program, click here.
