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Screening Your Staff’s Background

We would like to think that ELCA churches are safe places where good people congregate for worship and fellowship, and then we hear of the news of a congregational president who is a mass murderer and was finally caught. We would also like to think that they are places where our children are welcomed and nurtured, and then we discover that a volunteer or staff member, including a rostered leader, has abused or otherwise taken advantage of them.

Can we protect ourselves from those who would prey on our goodness? Not always. Can we do more than we do? Perhaps, but that depends on the safeguards we may already have in place.

The practice of performing background checks has been a part of the hiring practices of many of our institutions and agencies for years. Our school systems have responded by requiring the screening of employees and volunteers alike. Should churches perform criminal records checks? If so, on whom? These questions are being asked at every level by church leaders. For many, a strong case has already been made for conducting criminal records checks on anyone having unsupervised access to minors on church property, in church vehicles, or during church activities and programs.

Conducting criminal records checks on professional and volunteer workers is a necessity. If your church already does this, read on anyway. There are a bewildering number of screening options available these days. How do we know which service to use, which reports to order, and what such a service should cost?

If you are reading this article and are the volunteer youth leader, education coordinator, Sunday school director, choir director, or pastor of an average-size 400-member ELCA congregation, your ministry could be a prime target for sexual predators. Why? Because larger churches and volunteer organizations have for the most part put in place screening systems that deter these people. This means that sexual predators may move on to more vulnerable targets. Yet, you may not know that there are very affordable and effective screening tools available to you right now.

Cost is not the only reason we may shy away from criminal records checks. There is also the very real fear of offending someone. The best way to deal with that concern is to be the first person screened. This is a discipline that must be modeled. Make it a positive experience for folks. When you have to deliver a message that is difficult to deliver, don’t do it by quoting law or policy but rather by stating the positive benefits. Rather than stating “Our insurance company requires that we have all our volunteer workers screened” and apologizing for that by adding “I am sorry I must comply with their request. I don’t agree, but we need to run a criminal records check,” you might deliver the same message in a positive way by saying “In order to protect our children from danger, we are asking that each of our volunteers agrees to a criminal records check. I feel so strongly about this that Pastor and I will be the first screened.”

Services for Non-Profits
Once your policy and resolve have been articulated, what kind of search should be performed, by whom should it be done, and what should such a service cost? I am not making a recommendation with regard to any particular company. When selecting a service, ask the following question: How many non-profits have selected this company to conduct background checks?

Two such services are “Church Volunteer Central” (www.churchvolunteer-central.com) from Group Publishing, a leader in youth ministry, and “Volunteer Select Plus” (www.volunteerselectplus.com) recommended by Charity First, the ELCA-endorsed insurance program for congregations.

“Church Volunteer Central” service offers a $17 national background check that is very comprehensive and widely accepted. We use their service for volunteers. It is affordable and, when used in combination with other screening techniques, goes a long way to demonstrate that your church has been cautious in its selection practices. Other techniques should include a questionnaire asking for personal references, along with work and life history. The very act of screening is an effective deterrent in itself. It is similar to protecting property from theft by installing security lights. Thieves and predators alike will look for targets that offer the least resistance, and, unfortunately, those places are quickly becoming smaller congregations where folks may not think that sort of thing would ever happen to them.

“Volunteer Select Plus” has a full menu of reports ranging in price from $11.20 for a Federal Courthouse search to as little as $3.50 for a motor vehicle record search. We use their services on a more selective basis and especially when hiring or calling staff. In that case, we may spend as much as $100 for as many as 13 reports. This all depends on how well you may know the potential candidate; yet, no matter how well you may think you know them, certain reports are necessary.

Here are some examples of reports and the associated costs:
County, Federal, Statewide, and National Criminal Record Search (each)		$11.20
Education Verification		$8.40
Motor Vehicle Record		$3.50
Sex Offender Registry		$6.30
Social Security Number Search		$2.10
Credit Report		$6.30

Cautionary Note
A county criminal records check, if done on only the current county of residence, may fail to disclose an applicant’s criminal record in other counties. A state criminal records check may disclose information about only the most serious classes of misdemeanor offenses. This lack of comprehensive misdemeanor arrest and disposition data is one of the major deficiencies in state criminal history record systems.

When calling a new pastor or filling any church staff position, some but not all of the above reports are necessary to demonstrate that the congregation has been diligent. It should be sufficient to rely on the efforts of the synod or churchwide organizations with regard to education and identification of rostered individuals. However, the other reports ought to be ordered on any staff, rostered or not.

It is not uncommon for sex offenders to engage in repeat offenses in different states. Local criminal records checks may not detect a criminal past. With that said, criminal records checks must not be viewed as the only screening procedure that a church should implement. Such checks should be viewed as one component of an overall risk-management policy that should include written applications, staff training, and reference checks from other institutions or programs. Such procedures are invaluable in proving that a church was not negligent in selecting an individual.

More and more institutions and agencies are recommending and implementing what has come to be known as the six-month rule. The rule states that volunteers are not allowed to work with children until they have been members for at least six months. Again, the consistent administration of this rule will avoid hurt feelings.

With today’s access to information and our raised awareness of the methods and habits of sexual predators, there should not be an ELCA congregation anywhere that does not employ some form of screening for staff and volunteers. Don’t wait until it is a mandate from your insurance company or worse, until one of your children is a victim. Implement some form of screening now. If all you choose to do is a simple interview followed by the six-month rule, document it and file it. Don’t be an easy target.

Jerry Johnson, an associate in ministry, has served as a church administrator for more than 20 years. He is currently continuing in rostered service as treasurer of the Florida-Bahamas Synod.