Boundaries, Policies, & Safety Recommendations For Youth Group / Student Trips
Unstructured time (such as travel, overnight trips, informal hangouts, lock-ins, etc.) create an increased risk for children and teens because they involve sleeping arrangements, showering and changing, or other vulnerable situations. In this article we will look at basic safety recommendations for student trips.
Getting Started
Uphold existing boundaries from your church/ministry policy. (Psst… if you don’t have a policy, GRACE’s policy review & development service is a great place to start).
Policy boundaries will still apply to issues of isolation, respect in touch, respect in words, and not sharing sexualized content. Remember: leaving the building doesn’t meaning leaving behavioral expectations.
Consider Contextualized Boundaries
Before going on a trip, assess the set up of the facilities where the students will be staying. Decide on what the boundaries will be for the group and communicate them clearly to everyone attending. If you are uncertain or have questions on best practices in a particular scenario, reach out to someone with more experience.
Key Boundaries: Sleeping Arrangements & Showering
Sleeping Arrangements
Most church trips will separate sleeping arrangements by gender. Some set ups (like a bunk room) will require adults and kids to sleep in the same area. If this is the case, think about a boundaries such as: no sharing beds or bunks, even in non-sleeping times (this is often wise to extend to students as well - GRACE knows of situations where a student crossed boundaries with another student in this type of context).
No leaving sleeping quarters after a certain time, and certainly no adult may meet with students after this time and especially not alone and/or in an isolated setting.
Showering & Changing
Changing areas should be private, there should be no adults observing minors changing.
Separate showering areas for use by adults and kids. If it is not possible to separate showering areas, try to separate times.
No phones allowed in the areas for showering, changing, or restroom use, period. No exceptions.
If there is a set up where students are sleeping and showering with little adult presence (like in a hotel room), it is good to make sure that they know that the boundaries apply to how they treat their peers. Some teens who test boundaries will use the lack of adult supervision in these type of vulnerable setting to test boundaries. It is good to try to reduce any power differential (by grouping students as much as possible with similar-aged students) and to give examples of expectations that include how they treat their peers. The best set up is where showering and changing areas and restrooms allow for the privacy for each individual.
Setting the Tone: Safety Talks
As leaders, its critical to set the tone from the beginning of the trip by giving a safety talk before the group departs. Frame these issues positively in terms of God’s heart that each person is valuable and worthy of respect.
Points to cover:
This is a priority to God and to church leadership. All of us (leaders, adults, camp staff not from our church, students - ALL) need to be accountable and treat others with respect.
Share the key boundaries: isolation, sleeping arrangements, showing/changing, restrooms, touch, words, etc.
Give specific examples of how these boundaries will apply (e.g. having a one-on-one conversation out in an open, observable area is fine; but don’t go off on your own to an isolated part of the camp without permission; hugs are acceptable as long as they are welcome by the other person, but even if the touch is otherwise appropriate, it is never appropriate if the person does not want any touch at that time or if it is in an isolated area and not observable).
Give options for if they need help or a friend needs help (e.g. call parents, talk to any leader, talk to a friend who can help support them in going to a leader, etc.)
Leaders will ensure any boundary crossing or something more egregious is follow up on and there is accountability.
Answer any questions.
The key is to frame this in terms of our Christian commitments and frame it positively, rather than this being about fear and suspicion. The culture and tone you shape as leaders makes all the difference. Give some examples that involve how adults treat the students, but also how they as students treat each other. Then, throughout the trip, take a few minutes every day or every other day to briefly remind the students of a couple of these key points about safety. You don’t have to give another full talk, but a brief reminder can help keep these important issues on the front burner and help discourage and deter anyone who is inclined to test boundaries