Safe Environments
Safe Environment programs are well-established in all three Roman Catholic Dioceses in Connecticut. The Safe Environment program in the Diocese of Bridgeport has a full-time director, Ms. Erin Neil, L.C.S.W.
The Safe Environments Office is dedicated to ensuring the safety of all children in our Diocese.
In the Diocese of Bridgeport, we require everyone who is routinely on premise to complete awareness training; read and acknowledge receipt of our Safe Environment Handbook and clear a criminal background check prior to working of volunteering, even if the person does not come into scheduled contact with children. Our policies include vendors, tenants and independent contractors, adult group leaders, etc. In general, the only exception is what we would consider a one-time only visitor (under three hours) or a person contracted in an emergency like a roof leak, flooding, or a dangerous tree limb, etc.
VIRTUS Training
Awareness training sessions called Protecting God’s Children for Adults are being held across the Diocese by VIRTUS trained facilitators. This is a special 3-hour training that teaches adults in the Catholic community to create safer environments and become part of the solution to prevent child abuse.
Training for Parents & Children
Annually, the Office of Safe Environments provides age-appropriate safety training for students in the Catholic Schools of the Diocese of Bridgeport, including topics of personal safety as well as safe behaviors online. Parents are invited in advance to review materials and encouraged to continue the conversation with their children after the training is provided.
Overview of the Office of Safe Environments
Safe Environment programs oversee the implementation of Charter mandates including victim assistance, criminal background checks, written Codes of Conduct, and child sexual abuse awareness and prevention training for priests, deacons, lay employees, volunteers, children, and youth.
In the Diocese of Bridgeport, we encourage every person who has information about any form of abuse or neglect, knowledge of someone in possession of child pornography or suspected boundary violations toward minors or Vulnerable Adults, to report this information to the Diocese of Bridgeport and to Civil Authorities. Clergy, Candidates for Ordination, Religious Sisters and Brothers, Employees, Volunteers, Tenants and Independent Contractors are required to report this information within 12-hours of becoming aware of it.
Immediately call:
Erin Neil, L.C.S.W., Director of Safe Environment and Victim Assistance Coordinator Office: (203) 416-1406, Cell: (203) 650-3265, eneil@diobpt.org or Michael Tintrup, L.C.S.W., Victim Assistance Counselor: (203) 241-0987
AND
The CT Department of Children and Family (D.C.F.) Child Abuse and Neglect Careline
1-800-842-2288 within twelve (12) hours of becoming aware of the information
AND IF DIRECTED
Notify the police in the town where the incident occurred.
Immediately call (911) if there is imminent risk of harm to any person.
Third Party Reporting: Survivor and Witness Hotline 1-833-990-0004 or www.lighthouse-services.com/diobpt
To Report Sexual Misconduct by a U.S. Bishop, call 1-800-276-1562 / https://reportbishopabuse.org or call Kathleen D. Nowosadko, the province’s local reporting individual: (860) 541-6475
For a report involving a Vulnerable Adult, call the police in the town where the incident occurred.
SUSPECTED BOUNDARY VIOLATIONS OR SUSPECTED GROOMING BEHAVIORS TOWARD MINORS OR A VULNERABLE ADULT
If you have any concern about the safety of a child or Vulnerable Adult or if you have observed an early warning sign of inappropriate conduct or a violation of the Safe Environment policies, please call the Safe Environment Office with what you know. Suspected grooming behaviors toward minors must also be reported to the police and to the D.C.F. Care-line.