In regards to safety with vulnerable populations, our church board recently did a risk-assessment (based on the Faithful Footsteps recommendations PDF from the United Church of Canada) of all our church activities that involve vulnerable individuals (not just children).   It was a very useful exercise, as it is easy in a shrinking church to have a change in the level of program/activity safety without realizing it.  Working with a resource also helped us to identify ways we could make things safer (like the open doors comment above) even if ideal safety conditions could not be readily met.

In regards to the effects of death on children,

• Children, especially young children, do not respond to death the same way that adults do and we should not expect them to grieve in the same way (or even at all).
• The non-violent death of someone a child personally knows can be more devastating than a violent traumatic event in their community.  Most of Amy's suggestions apply equally well to "normal" deaths.