What is the Body Safety Program for Volunteers?
Volunteer facilitators are needed to support the county’s Body Safety Program for children. This FREE school-based program gives children a comfortable, non-alarming way to talk about the sensitive and complex problem of child abuse.
The Childhelp® Speak Up Be Safe curriculum used by the Department of Family Services, is designed to teach children the skills needed to stay safe through learning:
- They own their body.
- About appropriate and inappropriate touching.
- Some parts of their bodies are private.
- It’s adults' job to keep them safe.
- To identify their safe adults.
- They have choices in unsafe situations.
- It is never too late to ask for help.
- It is never their fault if someone abuses them.
"The students and teachers in Pre-K-6 are always excited when the Speak Up, Be Safe program is scheduled. The students enjoy the guest teachers, and always share their new learning with us. Speak Up, Be Safe is an awesome program that reminds students the importance of body safety." — Elementary School Vice Principal
“The presenter was kind, a good listener, patient, and knew the content well!!" —Fourth Grade Teacher
“The facilitator used a variety of strategies to keep students engaged.” —Second Grade Teacher
“I definitely will recommend this program to other schools in the county.” —Autism K-2 Teacher
“A very valuable and informative program that is definitely necessary.” —Kindergarten Teacher
How Does It Work?
Step 1 - Complete onboarding process.
Step 2 - Observations and training.
Step 3 - Help children feel more comfortable talking about body safety issues.
DFS makes it easy for facilitators to jump right in after training. The program provides all the materials and any equipment volunteers need to run their presentations. Trained facilitators lead a two-hour interactive presentation for children that:
- Is tailored to children in Pre-K through sixth grade.
- Takes place in schools, community and child development centers or other community groups.
- Includes an age appropriate video and discussion.
- Uses the Childhelp® Speak Up Be Safe curriculum.
Volunteers are essential to this program, leading a minimum of 4-6, two-hour sessions each month for at least one year. In 2019, our volunteers helped nearly 6,000 children to be equipped with skills to prevent or interrupt child abuse.
How Can You Help?
Become a Volunteer Facilitator
The program is looking for help facilitating classes and providing valuable information to children about body safety. If you are willing to make a one-year commitment to teach at least 4-6 classes a month, contact us to start the volunteer application process. For more information, contact one of the Body Safety Program staff by email or call 703-324-7459
Start making an impact in your community now and sign-up to become a facilitator!
Volunteer with Body Safety
Meet Our Volunteers
“As a grandfather, I am very concerned about the safety of my grandchildren. I wish this program was available for them in their community. This makes it important for me to be a part of offering it here. I believe that if I can empower one child by giving them the tools to help them stay safe, I have made a difference. It doesn’t hurt that the kids are loads of fun!” —Volunteer Facilitator
"Being a facilitator for “Speak Up, Be Safe” makes me feel good. It means a lot that what I say may help a child to avoid being abused, or to speak up when they see another child being hurt. We know that some adults are now coming forward to tell what happened to them when they were children. Hopefully, with the knowledge and suggestions we provide in this program, these children will be able to avoid abuse all together or make it stop very quickly.” —Volunteer Facilitator
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