Safety of children at camp matters to us.

Smaller Earth is the organisation that operates the Camp Leaders programme.

It is our responsibility to ensure that every participant on the program receives the highest level of police clearance available in his or her country of residence. Through our comprehensive interview process we assess the participant’s suitability for the camp environment.

Smaller Earth’s staff are trained to refuse to take someone forward if they feel that the applicant is not suitable, or poses a risk to the children that will be in their care.

This is an organisation that exists to improve the standards and quality of summer camps across the USA.

The association has a core of full time staff who host numerous annual conferences and produce training materials for different topics throughout the year, including child protection.

The ACA has specific polices in place to which camps and summer staff must adhere. The ACA also has a crisis line which offers advice to camps after they have contacted the relevant authorities when a child protection issue arises.

As an example the standards include never being alone with a child, specific training, supervision of staff, strict guidelines as to physical contact with children, a clear procedure to highlight any concerns and enhanced background checks for all staff.

Each camp has its own strict procedures that combine all the other requirements, plus their own specific needs into one clear and defined policy.

During staff training this will be made clear. You will attend workshops covering the policies and throughout the summer you, your fellow staff, your supervisors and the Camp Directors will all take responsibility to deliver these high standards.

State and Federal Law govern life in the US, and child protection is taken very seriously. Mandatory reporting of incidents and a clear structure of prevention helps protect American and international campers.

At Smaller Earth we whole-heartedly support the work of all of the organisations involved in child protection.

We believe that the candidates we work with are of the highest caliber and we continue to expect everything will be done to protect children at camp.