Safekids Program for Westwood Basketball Association, Inc.

The following constitute the policies of Westwood Basketball Association, Inc. (also referred to as Westwood Youth Basketball Assn. in this document) with regard to awareness and prevention of abuse within our organization.

• Westwood Youth Basketball Assn. is committed to provide a safe environment and prevent child abuse and sexual misconduct.
• Westwood Youth Basketball Assn. will make every reasonable effort to ensure that every person involved in coaching/training/managing a sport activity in our organization will abide by these Safekids guidelines.
• Westwood Youth Basketball Assn. will make every reasonable effort to exclude any adult with a legally documented history of child abuse/molestation or any other conviction or record that would bring unnecessary risk to health and safety of the participants of this organization.
• Westwood Youth Basketball Assn. will make every reasonable effort to perform a criminal background check (CORI) on every person applying for a position at our organization.
• Westwood Youth Basketball Assn. will take appropriate action on all allegations of child abuse and or sexual misconduct.  All allegations will be reported to the authorities for investigation and will cooperate fully with any such investigation.

The following represent the preventive measures of our organization with regard to abuse:

• Physical, mental, and verbal abuse of any of the participants, coaches, managers, employees, volunteers involved in our sponsored activities is not permitted.
• Inappropriate touching of any kind is forbidden.
• We agree to provide more then one adult working at or overseeing every activity whenever possible and seek to avoid one–on-one situations.  If a child needs special attention, it will be handled with assistance of another adult.
• Employees/coaches/volunteers should not socialize with participants outside of the sponsored activities of the organization.
•  Employees/coaches/volunteers should never ride alone with a child or participant in the car.  Procedures will be established for employees/coaches/volunteers to follow in the event a participant is stranded at an activity.
• Parents are encouraged to attend sponsored activities.
• It is the intent of management to deny a position to anyone convicted of a crime of violence or a crime against another person.

We have adopted this program and have incorporated it into our program of guidelines.

Athlete and Participant Safety Policy

Safety Above All and Report any observed or suspected abuse/misconduct

• All WBA coaches and adult volunteers are required to:

  • Complete Coach Span training.

  • Clear an expanded state/federal background check and screening process including CORI/SORI.

  • Asked to complete the comprehensive initial abuse prevention training offered online by the US Center for SafeSport.

    • Refresher courses are then required annually for a four year cycle that then repeats.

  • Limit the one-to-one contact with minors when not observable or interruptible by another adult.

  • Avoid situations where an athlete under the age of 18 may be alone with an adult who is not their parent.

  • Report any observed or suspected abuse to all parties.

Abuse Prevention Training for Minor Athletes and Parents/Guardians

• Abuse Prevention Training for Parents and for Youth Participants is recommended.

• The training is available via the U.S. Center for SafeSport at: https://safesporttrained.org/#/public-dashboard

• To access the parent and/or minor athlete training, click on the training link above and then on the Login button on the top of the landing page to either log into your account, or sign up for an account. After your account is created, all FREE courses will show up as options once you click on the catalog button.

Mandatory Child Abuse Prevention Reporting Contact List

(All parties listed below MUST be contacted when physical or sexual abuse is observed or suspected)

1. Call Local Law Enforcement/Child Protective Services: Westwood Police: 781-320-1000

2. Contact Westwood Basketball Board Members: and Club President:

3. Contact the Department of Children and Families (DCF) within 24 hours; DCF also requires a written report be submitted within 48 hours of the initial call.

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Report other forms of misconduct such as emotional abuse, bullying, hazing, or harassment to the Westwood Basketball President who will convene a review board.