Child Protection Program
The Campus Program for Minors Rules (Texas Education Code, Chapter 51, Subchapter Z, §51.976, entitled Training and Examination Program for Employees of Campus Programs for Minors on Warning Signs of Sexual Abuse and Child Molestation mandates for designated individuals to successfully complete an approved child protection training prior to being employed by or volunteer for a campus program for minors.
Examples of designated individuals include but are not limited to faculty, staff, student workers, volunteers, and contracted employees who has contact with a minor in a campus program for minors. Guests such as lecturers, speakers, etc. are required to take the training if the guest speaker is working with the campers and has unsupervised access to them. However, if the guest is speaking to a group and the designated individuals will be present at all times, and the guest does not have unsupervised access to the campers, training is not required for the guest speaker.
A campus program for minors is defined by applying the three (3) question rule:
- Is it a program sponsored and controlled by a University college, school, unit, or department?
- Are there minors in the program?
- Are parents/guardians not expected to be responsible for their children during the program?
The training session will cover a great deal of useful information, including:
- Definitions of the various forms of abuse
- Signs and effects of abuse and molestation
- Sexual offender behavior patterns and strategies
- Steps for reporting known/suspected/reported abuse
- Strategies for providing a safe environment for kids on campus.
Online training is available via Blackboard.
To access the online training,
- Log into your UTRGV Blackboard account: my.utrgv.edu. If you do not have a UTRGV account, please contact Daniela Venegas at 956-665-2522.
- Enroll as a participant into the Environmental Health and Safety and Risk Management organization.
- Click on the Child Protection tab on the left side of the screen.
- View the PowerPoint presentation entitled "Child Protection Presentation."
- Complete the quiz entitled "Child Protection Training Exam" with an 80% or above.
Criminal Background Checks
All employees or individuals in a contractual or volunteer position with the University who meet the policy’s definition of a “covered position” will receive criminal background checks at least once a year as a condition of participating in a program that meets the policy’s definition of a “covered program”.
For individuals who do not receive Criminal Background Checks through the normal course of their employment (students, volunteers etc.), departments should send a spreadsheet showing name, area, and departmental contact to Brenda.Delgado01@utrgv.edu in order to obtain a special code and website. Departments should direct the individuals to log into the website provided and supply the special code in order to request a background check.
Departments will receive results directly from the department of Human Resources.
Camp Insurance
Camp insurance is required for all individuals attending a sports camps or an overnight camp. It is designed to pay for the health care costs related to an injury incurred while attending the camp and is secondary to you’re the camp attendee’s primary insurance. It is also an option for those camp administrators who want to purchase the insurance as an added source of protection. It is the responsibility for the department hosting the camp to pay for the insurance.
Camp insurance can be purchased by completing the following forms and submitting them to Celia Saenz, Environmental Health, Safety and Risk Management, via email Celia.Saenz@utrgv.edu, or faxing to (956) 665-2699.
Reporting Child Abuse
State law requires any person having cause to believe that a child's physical or mental health or welfare has been adversely effected by abuse or neglect to immediately make a report to law enforcement. The law also provides immunity for those who make a good faith report since we are not responsible for verifying whether suspected or alleged abuse has actually occurred. This means that all of us have a legal responsibility to report abuse whether it is witnessed, known, reported, alleged, suspected, etc.
If you witness, suspect, or receive a report of child abuse, neglect or exploitation, regardless of when the abuse occurred:
- Remove the child from immediate harm (if the abuse is presently occurring)
- Call 9-1-1 or 882-4911 to report the abuse to local law enforcement
- Report the situation to your supervisor (unless they are the source of the abuse or neglect)
Supervisors are then to file an online report with the Texas Department of Family Protective Services.
There are two options:
By Phone: Call the Abuse Hotline, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, toll-free 1-800-252-5400 from anywhere in the US to report abuse or neglect that occurred in Texas.
By Secure Internet Website: From your internet browser, go to https://www.txabusehotline.org. When you get to the web site, there will be directions to the links to report abuse or neglect against children or to report abuse against elderly or disabled adults. Recent improvements to the site include a registration page, ability for the user to print the report, left side navigation, and spell check. If you have trouble or questions about making a report on the website, call (512) 929-6784 or 1-800-252-5400 for help. (You MUST include the “s” in “https://” to access the site.)
Program Documents:
- UTRGV Summer Camp Planning Guide
- UTRGV Camp – Risk Management Checklist
UTRGV Child Protection Staff Members
Daniela Venegas
Youth Programs Support Manager
EEMLH 1.101A
956-665-2522
Daniela.Venegas@utrgv.edu