Going beyond the background check with volunteer screening
This issue of Connections from the thoughtful folks at Friends for Youth gives an in-depth look at one community's efforts to screen volunteers. It should prove very useful for those working on community-wide safety strategies for youth serving organizations, as well as for individual programs to help put safety in a working context. It also has a very useful resource list at the back, for those looking for training material or detailed information about screening and safety.
Going Beyond the Background Check: The Status of Volunteer Screening in
San Mateo County Youth-Serving Organizations
http://www.friendsforyouth.org/files/MIConnectionsNewsletters/Connection...
Also, this Friends for Youth Resource is highly recommended:
SAFE (Screening Volunteers for Effectiveness): Guidelines to Prevent Child Molestation in Mentoring and Youth-Serving Organizations
Kay Logan
National Mentoring Center
Education Northwest
Kay.Logan@educationnorthwest.org
Your email raises a couple of great points, and I would be curious to hear others weigh in. There are different types of screening and background checks that should be part of running a strong, safe program (for more information see http://www.edmentoring.org/pubs/screening.pdf). Most states maintain some sort of central registry documenting child abuse and neglect, (a few states do not) but the type of information and access to information varies from state to state. The Child Welfare Information Gateway provides an online list of State Statutes that can provide guidance on doing these checks: http://www.childwelfare.gov/systemwide/laws_policies/state/ I would say that doing a child abuse registry check is important, but it is also important to remember that there are potential gaps in these registries, and they are only one part of thorough screening.
A couple of excellent sources of information on background checks and screening is the book from Friends for Youth I mention in my original post called SAFE: Screening Applicants for Effectiveness http://www.friendsforyouth.org/SAFE.html, and the Nonprofit Risk Management Center at www.nonprofitrisk.org.
Is there any guidance in conducting a Child Abuse Registry check on volunteers? In Washington State, we can easily screen volunteers for any child abuse and neglect allegations to screen out volunteers but we are having a problem with volunteers who are out-of-state or are from Oregon. Any ideas or laws that pertain to certain states?
I am curious how many mentoring programs do not screen for child abuse and neglect. It seems as though criminal screen or fingerprinting is the extent of screening beyond the reference phone calls. Are we one of the few that require more screening?
Jovanna Centre
Friends Program Coordinator
P.O. Box 2444
Walla Walla, WA 99362
(509) 527-4745
www.wallawallafriends.org