Diane Cranley
Expert Witness
and Author of
8 Ways to Create Their Fate:
Protecting the Sexual Innocence of Children
in Youth-Serving Organizations
Diane Cranley is a subject matter expert in child sexual abuse prevention in youth-serving organizations. She has extensive experience consulting with organizations, especially schools, in developing strategic child sexual abuse prevention plans. Diane works primarily with school districts, risk pools, and insurers to implement best practices that decrease the risk of child sexual abuse and minimize liability in the unfortunate case that abuse does occur.
While organizations may not be able to stop every case of child sexual abuse within their programs, there are best practices that when followed, significantly lower the risk of abuse occurring and minimize delays in reporting.
Diane's best practice focus areas include:
While organizations may not be able to stop every case of child sexual abuse within their programs, there are best practices that when followed, significantly lower the risk of abuse occurring and minimize delays in reporting.
Diane's best practice focus areas include:
- Analyzing policy, process, documentation, and training to identify best practice shortfalls
- Managing access to children through a single point of entry and visitor management system
- Implementing protective applicant screening processes
- Establishing formal adult-child boundary policies
- Training staff, parents, and children on grooming behaviors that precede abuse and boundaries that interrupt those behaviors
- Training and documenting mandated reporter, Title IX, and boundary violation reporting and response processes
- Acquainting leadership with technology that supports prevention best practices
So, how does Diane's work apply to your case?
Whether you are representing a plaintiff or a defendant, this same level of objective expert analysis and working knowledge of sound prevention principles is crucial. It will help you delineate how the organization's policies, practices, documentation, and training at the time of the alleged incident of abuse compared to state laws, regulations, and best practices and if staff, site administrators, and organization leadership responded in accordance with them.
This precise understanding can help you develop a sound approach, reasonable settlement expectations, and an effective trial strategy.