"One of the greatest responsibilities adults ever face is the protection of children under their care. That is a duty that falls heavily upon those who minister in the name of the Church because children are entrusted to us in so many ways – in schools, in religious education, in Scouting, on field trips and in sports. Parents have a right to expect that their children are as safe as humanly possible in all of these situations."
Archbishop Schnurr
SafeParish Safe Environment Training
SafeParish™ is a learning management platform that provides a broad array of training, education, information, and programs for Catholic organizations. It is a child and workplace safe environment program specifically designed for Catholic entities.
Every person in a position which requires contact or interaction with youth or vulnerable adults must complete the SafeParish™ edition of Protecting Children from Sexual Abuse training session, along with completing a background check, before they are permitted to work or volunteer within any of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati parishes, schools, or institutions. No one under the age of 18 is permitted to complete the training.
In addition to completing the training and background check, employees and volunteers must stay current in completing their interactive video-based SafeParish™ quarterly bulletins on Child Protection in order to remain in compliance with the requirements of the Decree on Child Protection. Non-compliance will result in SafeParish™ account non-approval and non-compliant employees and volunteers will no longer be permitted to work with youth or vulnerable adults until compliance is reestablished. Please contact your local safe environment coordinator with questions regarding your SafeParish™ account or if your account is non-approved due to non-compliance with the decree.
To register for a SafeParish account, go to http://www.aocsafeenvironment.org, and create a login and password. Click here to access the SafeParish™ registration instructions along with the code needed for registering. You must complete an online background check with Selection.com from within your SafeParish account. The background check is required for everyone. If you have any questions, please call Stefanie Busch, OLV Safe Environment Coordinator, at 347-8827.
Did you have an active Virtus account and have questions about the switch to SafeParish?
In July 2021 the Archdiocese moved to SafeParish as the new platform for Child Protection training and compliance. SafeParish will continue to work with our current background check provider – Selection.com. If you were active, all training and background information from your VIRTUS account will be transferred to SafeParish when you register. No new live training through SafeParish will be required if you have completed live child protection training through VIRTUS. Ongoing child protection training will still be required for all volunteers and employees and will consist of quarterly interactive video-based training instead of monthly bulletins.
SafeParish sent emails to all current and active VIRTUS account holders with instructions for registering on the SafeParish website. SafeParish will match information entered by each user to data transferred from the VIRTUS database to identify the user and transfer information from their VIRTUS account including background check, B4, training, and monthly bulletin information to their SafeParish account.
Expect to see your first quarterly bulletin in September. We ask that you complete your quarterly bulletin within the month in order to stay compliant.
If you have questions, please contact Our Lady of Victory’s Safe Environment Coordinator, Stefanie Busch at sbusch@olv.org.
Reporting Abuse
If you or someone you know has been abused at any time by an agent of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati (priest, deacon, employee or volunteer), the Archdiocese urges you to report the abuse to the Coordinator of Ministry to Survivors of Abuse, formally known as Victims’ Assistance Coordinator, of the Archdiocese at 513-421-3131 or 1-800-686-2724, as well as to the secular legal authorities.
Stefanie Busch
sbusch@olv.org or 513-347-8827