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Home > Articles > Screening Children's Workers
Screening Children's Workers
How to protect your church kids from sexual abuse.
James F. Cobble, Jr.

Topics:Legal issues, Liability, Policies, Recruiting, Screening, Volunteer recruitment, Volunteers
Filters:Children's ministry, Children's pastor, Nursery, Pastor, Service, Volunteer coordinator, Youth ministry, Youth pastor
Purpose:Ministry
References:Ephesians 4:11-12, 1 Timothy 4:14, 2 Timothy 1:6
Date Added:July 11, 2007

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Posted: October 06, 2008
Timothy  (Guest)
Very Informative and useful. Some building insurances that include sexual harassment/ abuse policies used by churches require screening of all workers involved with minor children.

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The best way to ward off preferential molesters is to develop an environment that puts the molester at risk rather than the children. That process begins with a thorough screening program for both paid and volunteer workers, and some healthy skepticism among the leaders responsible for recruiting and training workers.

Situational molesters. Far more situational molesters exist in our society than preferential molesters, but they have fewer victims. This person engages in misconduct when a situation develops or exists that makes the abuse possible. Screening may ward off some situational molesters. More important are policies that provide supervision of workers and ensure multiple workers in classrooms.

From a legal perspective, a church must engage in the same duty of care in the selection of volunteers who work with children and youth as it does in the selection of paid staff members. In both cases, the selection process should reflect the standard of reasonable care. Here are some suggestions:

Raise the threshold

Start by establishing requirements that must be met before an individual can serve in a position working with children or youth. For volunteers, attention should be given to two factors:
(1) how long the person has been part of the congregation, and
(2) the level of involvement the person has in the church.

  1. The six-month rule. Start by establishing a length of time the person must first attend the church, such as six months, before he or she can volunteer to work with children or youth. The purpose of this rule is to prevent molestor from gaining quick access to potential victims. A predator will not want to stick around a church for an extended period of time waiting to get access to children, especially when he can go elsewhere and have almost immediate access.
  2. Membership or equivalent. This requirement focuses on the individual's commitment to and involvement in the congregation.

Volunteers who work with children should be involved in the church, and able to list two other church members who can serve as informed references concerning that involvement. This is especially important in large congregations where staff members may not know every member well, and yet depend on large numbers of recruited volunteers to assist with church programs.

It is not enough for a person to have attended the congregation for six months. He or she should also be active enough in the life of the church that other members can provide a reference.