This Rules/Policy document is provided to you and your organization as a starting point or maturity checkpoint for existing rules/policies. It is brought to you on behalf of Jim McConnell, Principal Owner, and Ask McConnell, LLC — A Converged Security Services Provider. The content is not meant to cover every circumstance, industry, law, regulation, contractual requirement, threat, environment, or risk, but it provides an easy, defendable, highly accountable starting point for any organization. Please consult with your legal counsel and insurance provider about added requirements. If you know of peers that you think would find value in these resources, please have them contact us. These will be updated on our website regularly. We are not legally protecting these documents; we just ask for credit, shout-outs, and referrals if you find them helpful. If you have recommended updates, we are all ears. And if you need Converged Security Consulting and Training, please reach out, we would be honored to serve you and your organization.

Jim McConnell | info@askmcconnell.com | askmcconnell.com

Child and Youth Protection Policy

Updated: 5 May 2025

Protecting human lives is the highest requirement of our entire organization, whether they are employees, customers, volunteers, visitors, or part of our supply chain while under some nexus to our organization.

Scope: Children and youth (under 18 years old) are equally vulnerable from a security perspective. While exceptions exist (e.g., an expert marksman or high-level black belt), this policy focuses on the short-term protection needs of children and youth in organizational settings — not full-time environments like schools or daycare, which are significantly more complex.

General Elements

I will ensure all individuals (employees, volunteers, third parties) under my management have a verified and clean background check if they are going to be interacting with or overseeing children/youth in our organization, our facilities, or our events. Where appropriate, I will support yearly requalification of these individuals.
I will ensure all suppliers/vendors have completed and clean security and safety due diligence checks before their facilities or personnel are allowed to interact with any children/youth under our security/safety responsibilities.
I will ensure knowledge of and response procedures for appropriate medical challenges of any child/youth who will be interacting with individuals under my management. I will make sure the team is aware of privacy rules about this information and that they are trained in related medical response.
I will manage or support a State of Security Report and Presentation, under Executive Session, at least yearly, that covers incidents, vulnerabilities, improvements, and metrics related to child/youth protection activities.

Physical Elements

I am responsible for my personal safety and security while on the organization’s property or performing the organization’s duties.
I will report personnel, visitor, and child/youth protection security concerns, vulnerabilities, and threats to my supervisor or the organization’s Ethics Hotline; if they are not available and I feel unsafe, I will report it to law enforcement.
If I bring a child into our organization’s facilities or an event, I will maintain sole responsibility for their safety, security, and any medical response. If I am not available or capable of fulfilling this responsibility, I commit to obtaining parental approval and documenting the transfer of responsibility to another approved and skilled individual or team member.
I will not let any unknown or unauthorized individual enter the area where the children I oversee are located, or move any children out of the protected areas I oversee.
If I find a child alone, under duress, or in need of medical attention, I will follow the organization’s incident response procedures and/or call emergency services (e.g., 911). If at all possible, I will not leave the child except for a brief moment to obtain incident/emergency response support.

Online Elements

I will not allow children/youth under my oversight to access any electronic technology under the management control of the organization that would allow access to any content that is not both parent-approved and appropriate for their age.
If I find children/youth accessing content during organization activities that would reasonably not be considered age-appropriate or parent-approved, I will notify the child’s parent or guardian as soon as possible. If egregious, I will work with another appropriate individual to eliminate the access.
If I create content for the organization, I will make sure it is independently verified for age-appropriateness, privacy, and data collection controls in compliance with legal, regulatory, and organizational rules and good social community practices before approving the content for delivery.

Signature Note: I am a huge fan of wet signatures on these types of documents for accountability and investigation reasons. You can add the signature lines below to each rule/policy document, or have a collective wet signature with references in the Security Commitment Agreement document available on the One-Pager library page. Organizational preference.

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Print Full Legal Name

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(Blue Ink) Full Legal Signature
Style of signature must closely match Driver’s License

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Date

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