Module 08 · Child Protection & Crisis Response — Duty of Care
Module 8 — completed first in all communities — covers ISKCON's 2025 CPOC reforms, mandatory reporting obligations, and every resident's non-negotiable duty of care.
Child Protection & Crisis Response
Institutional Duty of Care — Complete This Module First
This module is completed first in all communities — before any other module. Child protection is not a scheduled topic. It is a non-negotiable condition of community membership. Every resident must complete the Week 1 orientation assignments before anything else.
8.1 GBC Resolution Summary
The Child Protection Oversight Committee (CPOC) is navigating a complex transition. The SABHA officially returned a January 2025 resolution requesting reconsideration. The 2025 AGM amended the approach:
- Minister of Justice serves as transitional ICPO Director for 3–9 months.
- Comprehensive handover of all case files, databases, panelists, and investigator contacts mandated.
- Enhanced approach tested in parallel with existing model using cases reported after March 1, 2025.
- Special focus: professional investigators, cross-jurisdictional issues, inconsistent regional standards, funding.
- Regional CPOs to be established in areas where none currently exist.
- Results reported to GBC by October 30, 2025.
8.2 Prabhupada's Instructions
Sarva-bhuta-hite ratah — one should be engaged for the welfare of all living beings. This is the qualification of an advanced Krishna conscious person.— SB 6.1 lecture, Bombay, 1975
Prabhupada did not leave detailed institutional protocols for child protection — the gurukula crisis emerged primarily after his physical departure. However, his instructions on the responsibility of leaders toward the vulnerable, his vision for asramas as protected training environments, and his emphasis on community integrity provide the foundational principles underlying all child protection policy.
The child protection crisis in ISKCON represents the most serious institutional failure in the movement's history. The GBC's structured, reviewed approach to CPOC reform is the institutional acknowledgment that this failure must be systematically corrected. Every resident's participation is not optional.
8.3 Compare & Contrast
Every resident must: (1) know the name and contact of the local Child Protection Team member or regional CPO director; (2) understand the mandatory reporting framework in their jurisdiction; (3) have attended at least one safeguarding awareness session. If your temple has no local CPT contacts, that gap must be reported to the temple president in writing immediately.
8.4 Learning Objectives
Learning Objectives
- 1. Know the name and contact of your temple's Child Protection Team member or regional CPO director.
- 2. Understand the mandatory reporting framework for child protection concerns in your jurisdiction.
- 3. Articulate why child protection is a spiritual as well as institutional responsibility.
- 4. Understand the current status of the CPOC reform and the parallel trial period underway since March 2025.
8.5 Assignments & Assessment
- Week 1 — TODAY: Contact your temple president. Ask for local CPT contacts. Document them in writing. If none exist, submit written notice of this gap immediately.
- Week 2: Review ISKCON Child Protection Office policies at icpo.iskcon.org. Write a one-page summary of mandatory reporting obligations in your jurisdiction.
- Month 1: Attend or arrange a child safeguarding awareness session with regional CPO or via ICPO resources. Obtain attendance certificate.