Stop Child Abuse Now (SCAN) - 1380

Tonight's special guest is Melodie Bissell from Ontario, President and Founder of Plan to Protect and a co-author of Plan to Protect and other resources to combat child abuse. Plan to Protect is a training and consulting organization providing the highest standard of abuse prevention and protection to organizations servicing the vulnerable sector globally. The company services 7,500 volunteer driven organizations in North America including care homes, sports clubs, churches, community clubs, municipalities, transportation companies, etc. "We work with clients all over the world helping them prevent abuse from happening among the vulnerable sector in which they serve," Melodie writes. "Many of our clients are faith based, but we also consult with Scouts Canada, Free the Children, Variety Village, etc." Having served in youth serving organizations for years, Melodie saw that the standard of protection varied so much from organization to organization. She also saw that children and youth were placed in compromising situations where they could have been harmed, among staff and volunteers that had little training, supervision and accountability. At the same time Melodie started reading stories of children and youth that had been abused and she realized that she could raise her voice to protect other children from being harmed. Melodie is committed to not only speaking on behalf of the vulnerable sector but inviting others to join her. When she is not training and consulting, she is working on her Doctorate of Ministry at University of Toronto.