[MR] Society Notice

[Cecilia Jaeger]

Laurie Clarkston wrote:

>A few years ago, it became policy with my church that anyone who worked with 
>children in any form had to have a background check.  At the same time a new 
>policy was place that adults working in the Children's nursery during 
>service must be in pairs and can not be spouses.
>As far as teens who helped out with children's activities, they too had to 
>have a background check.  I never knew the outcome of my background check. 
>I continued to organize Vacation Bible School for my church, so I must have 
>passed.
>

Same here, especially in the Catholic church. As far as I know there is 
no limit at our church about spouses working together, but my spouse 
doesn't even go to church with me let alone volunteer :-) So there could 
be a limit that I don't know about.  My father who plays Santa Claus for 
his church had to do the same thing and more. And he is now a 
professional Santa so having the background check looks good on the 
resume for him.  (And he maybe reading the Merry Rose. Hi Dad.)

As a parent, I'm happy to have the extra measure of security, but agree 
that parents can't let their guard down.  As far as cost I don't think 
it should be put totally on the volunteers or totally on the parents. I 
think it should be a shared, as the cost of playing the game safely just 
like insurance on a site, etc.

My 2 cents...
Cassair (mka Ceci J mom to a sometime youth fighter and lady to a youth 
marshal)

>You can do a background check that will cover someone locally, state-wide or 
>nation-wide.  Each one comes with a different cost (at least it did 5 years 
>ago).  Having a local background check (with your local police department) 
>is not going to help if your helpers are from another state.  A local check 
>may be all you need for your local group.  But, if someone has a record from 
>another state, it may not get picked up on a local level.
>
>We are a multi-state organization and until we know the full details the BOD 
>adopt, it might not be a bad idea to start a "collection" fundraising for 
>this "background check" campaign that may or may not happen.  It will have 
>to be something that covers the entire Kingdom if not the entire Society! 
>Should the BOD not do this, then the "collection" could then be earmarked 
>for Kingdom Travel Fund.
>
>Just my two cents,
>Cairistiona
>
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