# Safe Church Policies



## Clay7926 (Feb 1, 2011)

Hi folks, 

A number of churches nowadays have 'safe church' policies in place. In other words, each church has a written protocol they follow in situations involving child/vulnerable adult abuse and neglect, and even spousal abuse. Some of these policies include background checks on all church volunteers as a means of making sure that there are no sexual or child predators who are trying to become church volunteers or such. As someone who currently works in Child Abuse/Neglect prevention, education, and prosecution, I've never heard of this phenomena, and want to get a little more info. 

Is anyone here part of a church with such policies, or has anyone been a part of encouraging their local church to adopt said policies? I know that the CRCNA has adopted such policies, but have any other Reformed, confessional churches moved in this direction? Why or why not?

(BTW--Mods, please feel free to move this if it is in the wrong area).


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## Notthemama1984 (Feb 1, 2011)

I was under the impression that the law required all who would be working with children to have a background check first. Am I mistaken?


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## Clay7926 (Feb 1, 2011)

Chaplainintraining said:


> I was under the impression that the law required all who would be working with children to have a background check first. Am I mistaken?


 
You're correct in that, but you'd be surprised at the number of churches who are 'caught by surprise' whenever reports of such abuse arise. Also, many churches are not educated in what they're supposed to do in a situation when a child reports abuse either at home or by another church member.


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## ericfromcowtown (Feb 1, 2011)

Our church is just in the process of finalizing and adopting a safety policy that deals primarily with the care of children. As part of that policy, childcare volunteers will require police checks. I think that, unfortunately, these policies have become necessary, not only to protect our children, but for liability / insurance issues.


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## JonathanHunt (Feb 1, 2011)

Here in England, it is a legal requirement for all who work with children to have criminal record checks. As a church, we have a child protection policy, vulnerable adult protection policy, and a health and safety policy. All these are conditions of our insurance company.


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## he beholds (Feb 1, 2011)

My husband led a mission trip for MTW (the PCA mission org.) last summer. My husband, as a leader, had to give a consent to have a criminal background check done. 
He and all of the other adults (not just leaders) had to get the pastor to sign and recommend the person as being known to be safe with children. The form included these paragraphs and more:



> Screening is required and refers to a process in which you obtain references for those adults who
> will work with youth. If the pastor or leadership of the church has had five or more years
> experience with an individual, then you may feel that is sufficient screening. The process for
> screening is at your discretion. See suggestions on the back of this form.
> ...



So the PCA church, as a whole, does not have any policies like this, but MTW has a good one that would be great if the whole church implemented. Part of their letter to the pastors says the following:



> Perpetrators actually seek out churches to begin their strategy of child sexual abuse. These
> people are good with kids and are liked by the kids. They are very helpful to youth leaders and
> children’s programs. They often are the first to volunteer for youth outings, retreats and mission
> trips. We at Mission to the World must know that you are properly screening your adults.
> ...



And following the letter and form is a list of tips for screening. 

But they also have a booklet a booklet "entitled 7 Steps to Protecting Our Children. It
has been developed by Darkness to Light, (Home - Darkness to Light), a non-profit organization
committed to educating adults about the steps they can take to prevent, recognize and react
responsibly to the reality of child sexual abuse." You might want to check that out to see how a church could adapt its policies! We all might want to!


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## AThornquist (Feb 1, 2011)

We perform the standard background checks, must go through a class on child safety, must be a member of the church for 6 months before working with children (unless irregularly exempted), hold to child protection policies that are thorough and helpful, and so on. We want safe children.


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## Jack K (Feb 1, 2011)

Both the church I serve now and the one I was part of previous to this do background checks on children's ministry workers. I don't actually do the checks myself, of course. I collect names and SSNs, and a release, and submit this to a company that does the checks and gives me a report if anything is amiss. There are several of these outfits serving churches in particular. BTW... I've never had a name come back with any questions.

The law does not require churches to do this. However, it seems increasingly the case that this is considered stardard procedure, and failure to follow it could open a church up to legal action in the event a person with a record is allowed to serve and something bad happens. These background checks cannot stop problems from occurring, but they increasingly seem to be regarded as the minimum standard of care.

A church that's serious about child safety issues will do far more than background checks. There will be clear guidelines that minimize the opportunity for any worker to get alone with a child, especially in tempting situations. There will be procedures that make sure children are always returned to the appropriate parent/guardian. There will even be safety protocols to protect against danger that would be purely accidental, such as fire plans, first aid procedures and safety inspections. There's always more you _could_ do, and how much you ought to do depends on a number of factors including church size, physical layout of the ministry area and (to be honest) practical limitations such as money and available manpower. Again, there are a number of outfits that guide churches through these issues or, for a fee, set up the entire system for a church.

In medium to large churches, I personally believe clear, enforced rules about workers not being alone with a child, coupled with awareness/safety training and urging parents and workers to get to know each other, are more important than background checks in terms of actual safety. But as I said, background checks seem to be where most churches are increasingly expected to start.


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## Edward (Feb 1, 2011)

Background checks for those who work with children, and for candidates for church office. Check in and check out policies and procedures for young children through early elementary. I don't think the policies are available online.

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Cross posted with Jack K, who does a good job of outlining the minimum needs. I'd add monitoring doorways.


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