Child and Youth Protection

Child & Youth Protection
320 Cathedral Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
Phone: 410-547-5348
Email: assistance@archbalt.org

Ms. Jerri Burkhardt, Director, Office of CYP
Ms. Christine Dustin, Compliance Coordinator
Mr. Charlie Fern, Administrative Assistant I

We comply with Maryland laws requiring reporting suspected child abuse to civil authorities. Under Maryland law any person who has reason to believe a child has been subjected to abuse must report the suspected abuse to civil authorities (local law enforcement or the local Department of Social Services Child Protective Services), even if the potential victim is now over 18 years old and even in cases where the alleged perpetrator is deceased. For more information about reporting suspected child abuse and neglect in Maryland, please visit the Maryland Department of Human Services website by clicking here or use the following link https://dhs.maryland.gov/child-protective-services/reporting-suspected-child-abuse-or-neglect/.

If someone associated with the Church, including clergy, employees, or volunteers of the Archdiocese of Baltimore, is suspected of abuse, then the suspected abuse must also be reported to the Archdiocese’s Office of Child and Youth Protection at 410-547-5348 or the Victims Assistance Line at 1-866-417-7469.

If you have reason to believe that a bishop has engaged in child sexual abuse or other sexual misconduct*, or has interfered with an investigation into sexual misconduct, please click here or visit www.reportbishopabuse.org.

For information about accountability measures in the Archdiocese of Baltimore, click here.

PROCEDURES FOR ALL CHURCH PERSONNEL INCLUDING VOLUNTEERS

As of Nov. 1, 2017, the Archdiocese of Baltimore will join more than ninety dioceses using VIRTUS as a training and compliance management system. The Archdiocesan policies updated in 2014 remain unchanged. VIRTUS has worked with us to customize training tailored to our policies and to Maryland law.

Church personnel, including volunteers, who have not already registered in Shield the Vulnerable, will be required to register using VIRTUS. VIRTUS will direct volunteers to review the Code of Conduct for Church Personnel and A Statement of Policy for the Protection of Children and Youth. The Archdiocese of Baltimore will continue to work with Employment Screening Resources (ESR) to conduct online criminal history screening; as part of the registration process, VIRTUS will direct volunteers to the ESR website where they will be asked to submit to an online criminal history screening. VIRTUS can be accessed at: https://www.virtusonline.org.

If you have questions about registration process, you may speak with the school’s Screening Coordinator. Also, feel free to contact the Archdiocese of Baltimore, Office of Child and Youth Protection at (410) 547-5348.

Thank you for your commitment to the policies that promote child protection in the Archdiocese of Baltimore. With your support we will continue to create and maintain safe environments where our children will thrive.

* Under Pope Francis’s Vos estis lux mundi and the Directives of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, the following forms of misconduct by bishops should be reported using this dedicated reporting system: 1) forcing someone, by violence or threat or through abuse of authority, to perform or submit to sexual acts; 2) performing sexual acts with a minor or a vulnerable person; 3) the production, exhibition, possession or distribution, including by electronic means, of child pornography, as well as by the recruitment of or inducement of a minor or a vulnerable person to participate in pornographic exhibitions; and 4) actions or omissions intended to interfere with or avoid civil investigations or canonical investigations, whether administrative or penal, against a cleric or a religious regarding the misconduct referred to in 1-3 above.

Independent Review Board

The Independent Review Board, made up mostly of lay people and headed by Dr. Jay A. Perman, MD, is an interfaith group including representatives from the legal community and law enforcement, health care, academia and social work.

Board members review individual allegations of abuse and help shape archdiocesan child protection policies.

“They make sure that we actually live up to our policies … to make sure that we are living up to the promises of our policy and of the charter,” said Jerri Burkhardt, director of the Office of Child and Youth Protection for the archdiocese.

Learn More

Independent Review Board Members

Dr. Jay A. Perman, MD (Chair)
Chancellor of the University System of Maryland

Frederick H. Bealefeld III
Former police commissioner of Baltimore City

Beverly A. Cooper
Vice president, The Reginald F. Lewis Foundation, Inc.

Monsignor Robert J. Jaskot
Pastor of St. Mary-St. Francis-Holy Family Catholic Community, Frederick County

Sister Patricia M. McCarron, S.S.N.D., PhD.
Headmistress, Notre Dame Preparatory School, Towson

Mary Page Michel
Community volunteer

Judge Alexander Wright
Retired Associate Judge of the Maryland Court of Special Appeals

2023 Annual Child Protection Report

Click here to download the 2023 Annual Child Protection Reports of the Archdiocese of Baltimore Independent Review Board (IRB) and of the Archdiocese of Baltimore.