Local News
Director Named For Office Of Child And Youth Protection
Published: September 18, 2003
ATLANTA—Ann Price, Ph.D., has been named the new director of the Office of Child and Youth Protection (formerly Project Aware) for the Archdiocese of Atlanta. One of her primary responsibilities will be to coordinate pastoral and spiritual care to victims of sexual abuse by church personnel.
The Office of Child and Youth Protection will implement a program established to address the issue of sexual abuse of minors in the church through education and support for those directly affected by abuse in cases involving clergy or church employees.
Project Aware was originally created in 1992 by the late Archbishop James P. Lyke, OFM, in response to a family that had been affected by sexual abuse in the church. The archdiocese has had a sexual abuse policy in place throughout the last decade.
Now the office has been renamed and its mission expanded to reflect the full mandate given to all U.S. dioceses under the “Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People” and accompanying church norms. The U.S. bishops adopted the charter in 2002 following the clergy sex abuse crisis that came to light with prominent cases in the Boston Archdiocese.
Enthusiastic and energetic, Price brings a unique combination of clinical skills and a knowledge of community psychology to the job.
Price hopes to expand the role of this office to educate every person in the archdiocese.
“Many people would be happy with a focus on the Good Touch, Bad Touch program,” said Price, “but I think the more important focus is creating safe environments for children and vulnerable adults.” The burden of safety should be on the adults, not the children, she continued.
Price is familiar with the work of Project Aware. She has volunteered on previous projects and served on the Project Aware advisory board.
Price believes that her experience will help her evaluate what’s been done in the past. “We want to look at the charter as a living, breathing document. What can we do to reach all of the audiences? This charter is not just for catechists—we have to reach all ministers, educators, parents, volunteers, church personnel and others who have regular contact with youth.”
Price’s first order of business is looking at the existing safe environment programs and then taking a look at the recently revised archdiocesan sexual abuse policy, which was completed and made public Aug. 1. “We need to figure out what we need to do to implement this policy to the fullest extent.” After implementation comes continuous evaluation of the program, a particular strength of hers.
Her biggest concern is that the policy is understood to be critically important and doesn’t become just a check-off on a human resources form. This program is vital to the health of the archdiocese. “Everyone needs to be educated in this area.”
Price holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in psychology from the University of West Florida, Pensacola. In 2000, she earned a Ph.D. in community psychology at Georgia State University.
Her community psychology background means that she is interested in system-level causes of psychological problems. She looks at the causes from a societal point of view, rather than from an individual’s point of view. She is concerned with how the influences such as school, church and economic background may affect abuse.
Price is primarily concerned with prevention, early intervention and evaluation of sexual abuse problems.
Her previous work has also prepared her in many ways for this new position with the archdiocese. Most recently she worked at ORC Macro International, where she worked on a longitudinal study of children’s mental health involving eight national sites.
Price also worked at Grady Hospital on a series of projects funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention investigating suicide in battered women.
Other work experience includes domestic violence and substance abuse. She has clinical experience as a therapist and intervention specialist, as well as a trainer for support group leaders.
Price has also taught undergraduate psychology courses at DeKalb College, Georgia State University and Kennesaw State University. She has published a number of articles on abuse issues in scholarly journals.
Price, a parishioner at St. Thomas Aquinas Church in Alpharetta, is married to Dan, a Coca-Cola employee. The couple has three sons, ages 14, 10 and 4.
