Parent Guide to Abuse Prevention Discontinued

July 2020

In 2002, Gospel Publishing House published a 32-page booklet, entitled Preventing Child & Substance Abuse – Parent Guide. This booklet was written to assist parents and church leaders in understanding, identifying, and responding to potential situations of abuse taking place within the family, church, and community. Among other topics, this booklet provided information on the following:

• Standard procedures for protecting children when participating in church activities
• Recognizing signs of physical, sexual, and emotional abuse
• Current statistics on abuse within the United States
• Preventing and recognizing substance abuse
• Computer and Internet concerns

This booklet was originally included with the purchase of all Royal Rangers boys’ handbooks and was required reading for all leaders and boys joining the program. Boys were required to review the booklet with their parents to meet membership requirements, and leaders reviewed it as part of their leader training process.

While the topics covered in this booklet continue to be relevant to parents and leaders today, the content has now become dated and does not reflect the most current material available. Current standards for safety and the protection of boys within the outpost can now be found in Chapter 27 of the Royal Rangers Leader Manual. Current information concerning abuse prevention can be found online at a variety of sources, including the following:

• ChildHelp.org
• ChildWelfare.org
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention at CDC.gov
• Prevent Child Abuse America at PreventChildAbuse.org
• HealthyChildren.org
• U.S. Department of Health and Human Services at HHS.gov
• SafeHorizon.org
• American Academy of Pediatrics at AAP.org

The Preventing Child & Substance Abuse – Parent Guide has, therefore, been discontinued and is no longer required for membership or training in Royal Rangers.