Youth Development Basic Best Practice and Guidelines

There are many excellent online resources for learning about and accessing training for best practices for youth development programs. What follows are some basic, common sense guidelines for youth development programs. Social Good Fund encourages you to carefully consider the guidelines and work to implement procedures to fit your program structure that ensures the safety and well-being of the youth entrusted to your care.

It is expected that every youth development program has fully thought-through their activities and put in place systems and procedures to achieve this.

Please note, the word “Staff” includes any adult working with children and youth on a more than occasional basis and includes volunteers, paid employees and independent contractors, interns, etc...

• Parents/guardians must sign appropriate waiver forms releasing your project/Social Good Fund of liability.

• Programs should not dispense medicines of any kind without the express, written consent of the parent/guardian.

• Corporal punishment of any kind, in any form, is strictly prohibited.

• Photographs of youth should not be posted on social media or used in any way without express, written permission of the parent/guardian.

• Staff should not accompany youth in restrooms. Youth must be accompanied by a partner when using a public restroom.

• Staff must be adequately trained in conflict resolution and positive behavior management practices. If you do not have a process or a training program that includes this, you should not be working with youth.

• Youth should not be driven in the personal vehicle of a staff member, including volunteers.

• Staff should not have contact with program participants outside of program time.

• Staff may not enter into an intimate relationship with a program participant.

• No staff is allowed to work one-on-one with a child behind closed doors. This protects the children and the adults, as well as providing a safer situation in the event of an accident or emergency. The presence of another person reduces the vulnerability of the situation, and provides witnesses should an accusation be made.

• A file should be kept for each child who is a regular attendee with an emergency contact, information about allergies, physical limitations or medical concerns.

• Parent/guardian contact information and first aid kit should accompany all field trips.

• Adult staff should not “friend” or otherwise connect with program participants on social media.

• A field trip/travel permission form for each child must be completed and signed by a parent or guardian before a child will be allowed to participate in a youth program’s outing. This form is to be kept with a program staff at all times during the outing.

• Children and Youth under the age of 18 should not be left unsupervised.

• Staff should always know the exact number of children they are supervising.

• Children under age 14 must be in the sight/sound of a trained adult at all times, including during bathroom breaks.

• When a group is split up, leaders must know which children are in which group. Never assume a youth who is not with you is with another adult. If a child who was in your group is no longer in your group, it is imperative that you verify that s/he has moved to another adult’s group.

• Program transitions require extra vigilance. When groups of youth are rotating from one activity to the next, kids can get mixed up in groups or lost. There is no excuse for not having a system in place.

• Every effort should be made to have a minimum of two adults working together with children. In smaller group activities, consisting of seven children or less, it is acceptable to have individual classes/groups with only one staff member present provided there is another staff present in the general area and visible.

• Staff, Interns and Volunteers should wear a nametag, identifying them and their role. Provided by the youth program.

• Parents or guardians should be asked to sign-in and sign-out their children when bringing them to and from the program.

• Within 10 minutes after dismissal time, parents or guardians should pick up children driving unless other arrangements have been made with the staff.

• For off-site day field trips and activities, there should be a minimum of 1 adult to 7 children, if possible. Note this policy does not cover overnight or “sleep-away” camps.