Office of Child and Youth Protection presents CAP 3 Cyber-Empowerment

As part of its ongoing effort to protect all children entrusted into its care, the Diocese of Camden requires all adults in regular contact with minors to receive safe environment training.
For the last several years, new volunteers and employees have attended New Jersey Child Assault Prevention (CAP). This is a 90-minute presentation to help adults recognize the signs of child abuse, child assault and child neglect. For the children, it empowers them to know that they are entitled to be “safe, strong and free.”
The policy of the Diocese of Camden is that all adults are retrained once every five years.
In 2008, the educators at NJ CAP presented CAP 2 which is a 90-minute presentation on Bullying Awareness and Bullying Prevention. The presentation teaches adults’ how to recognize bullying and teaches strategies to promote safe environments.
Now in the fall of 2013, CAP 3 will be presented. This 90-minute workshop helps adults explore the cyber world of today’s youth. It presents how some electronic communications are opportunities for bullying, bias crimes and violence against children. The workshop promotes adults’ understanding of cyber activity of youth while teaching them realistic ways to help minors keep their own rights and guard the rights of others in cyber space.
“We are so grateful to NJ CAP for partnering with the Diocese of Camden to protect our children,” says Rod J. Herrera, a licensed clinical social worker and director of the Office of Child and Youth Protection. “These workshops are very educational and informative.”
Herrera notes that adults working with children are fortunate to have these workshops presented every month all over the diocese. “All we ask of our adult volunteers and employees in regular contact with minors is 90 minutes of their time once every five years.”
The first presentation of CAP 3 Cyber-Empowerment will be held at Camden Catholic High School, Cherry Hill, on Sept. 5 at 1 p.m.
“We must never let up our guard to protect our children,” says Herrera, “and training our volunteers and employees is one way to ensure our children are safe.”