What Would You Do?

Wednesday, October 25th, 2017

Imagine this scenario: You are the coordinator for your organization’s youth group. You get an angry call from a parent—her daughter’s photo was posted on the organization’s Instagram page and has gone viral. Some of the comments are not flattering to the girl, and she is very upset. What do you do?

First, apologize to the parent for the misunderstanding and tell her you will look into the matter further. Next, you will need to contact the person in charge of social media for your organization to find out whether you had permission to post the girl’s photo. If you do have the permission form, call the mother back and let her know about the form and ask if she wishes to change the permissions. If you do not have permission to post her photo, you will need to try to take the post down, but realize that it’s already “out there.” In the future, make sure you have a permission form for all children and youth if you are going to be posting photos of minors on social media. Clarify this policy with all of your staff and volunteers. It may be a good time to review your policy to determine if it needs an update.