Help Prevent Child Abuse

At the YMCA, we believe ALL children deserve the opportunity to discover who they are, and what they can achieve. Every day, we are proud and respectful of the TRUST parents and the community place in our YMCA. From Summer Camp, After School programs, Youth Sports, and Teen experiences, our Ys are buzzing with activity to serve youth. We work to ensure your children have a safe, fun filled experience.

As you know, at the Y, child protection is our number one priority. Our goal is to help educate parents and children on how to be safe from child abuse in any environment with the skills they learn at our Y. Our staff and volunteers are trained on comprehensive and innovative practices around child safety to ensure your children are safe in our care. The trust that you, as parents and guardians, place in us to care for your children is important to us and we do not take that trust for granted.

You may see these symbols around our branches:

person reading "know," head with glasses "see," hand up "respond"

These symbols stand for Know See Respond.

This symbol is a conversation starter for staff, parents, and guardians to talk about child protection. As we mentioned, our staff is fully trained on how to protect children. Please ask them about it. When we KNOW how abuse happens and SEE the warning signs we can RESPOND quickly to prevent it. Together we can foster a culture of child abuse prevention.

We urge you to talk to your children regularly about their experiences at the YMCA of the Suncoast. Ask them about their instructors. If, as a result, there is ever a concern regarding the safety and protection of your child, please notify our team immediately. You can also contact your YMCA Branch Executive.

Together, we can keep our children safe and cultivate the values, skills, and relationships that lead to positive behaviors, better health and educational achievement.

Thank you for being a part of our Y family.

To report suspected abuse, call 1.800.96ABUSE.

Additional Resources:

Together, we can keep our children safe and cultivate the values, skills and relationships that lead to positive behaviors, better health and educational achievement. At the YMCA, in order to keep children safe, we require all staff and volunteers to follow a Code of Conduct. We do not allow staff to have outside contact with children we serve at the YMCA. In addition, only authorized staff are allowed to take photos of children in the YMCA. No special attention or gifts are allowed to be given by staff.

Want to learn more? 

Click the links below to watch informative videos:

Introduction Video 
Abuse & Warning Signs Video
Talking to Your Child Video
How to Respond Video