[MR] Safety!

[Gina Shelley]

I'm gonna have to say I am not in favor of blanket background checks. I don't have much issue if it's someone who does a lot of work with youth activities, but overall, no. 

Here's why: People in the SCA are far and away too cavalier with trusting everyone around their kids as it is. I have actually seen badly cared for children at Pennsic, for instance, where the attitude from the parent was "oh, well, I'm on vacation, I'm not a parent this week." Meanwhile, their filthy, half starved kid is basically living like a street urchin for real. I've seen straight up sick kids with fevers abandoned for long stretches at events.  I wish I were overreacting. I assure you I'm not. Ask anyone from my household who helped out with the Children's Fete that year Luqman and Julianna were running it what we saw that day. 

I've seen it there and I've seen it here. 

If people are THAT willing to trust their kid to the good faith of strangers now, with nobody having been screened, can you imagine what would happen if were operating under the illusion that everyone was trustworthy?

Dulcy