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Law and Disorder
Why your church might end up before a judge and jury, and what you can do to prevent it.
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Are church leaders putting into place abuse-prevention measures, such as volunteer screening? Our research indicates that 70 percent of churches are doing absolutely nothing to screen volunteer youth workers. But having said that, what single principle should guide church leaders? I like to refer to Ronald Reagan's philosophy of arms negotiating with the Soviets: Trust but verify. Church leaders tend to view the church differently than other institutions in society. It's an institution predicated on trust. It's a sanctuary. It bothers people to have to go through metal detectors or have their fingerprints taken in a church setting. How much screening is necessary? No amount of screening is enough when you get a lawsuit delivered to your door. But the courts in this country have ruled that what is needed is very minimal. We're talking about an application process that includes reference checks. Starting this year, the Boy Scouts are doing criminal-records checks on all new volunteer workers. Do you recommend that churches do criminal-records checks? In my church, we perform criminal-records checks on paid employees and male volunteers who work with minors. More churches are performing these checks, which are being used more often by nonreligious charities. At some point, a court may say they are necessary in screening youth workers. Are we at the point where it's too risky to operate a church? Every church has an imaginary risk meter in the lobby. On one side it says low. On the other side it says high. You get to place the needle on your church's risk meter by the answer to this question: Are we going to do criminal-records checks? No, not for anybody. Well, that needle is moving a little bit toward the high setting. That's not to say you're going to have an incident of child molestation. But the issue is: Are you liable? To be liable, you've got to be negligent, and that means you did not exercise reasonable care. Effective screening does not have to be burdensome. Are preventive steps such as lots of classroom windows and a two-adult rule effective? When a church is sued because of child molestation, it's because it was negligent in selecting that worker or negligent in supervising him. That's where I think a two-adult rule and having appropriate lines of sight can reduce risk. The two-adult rule does not mean you always have two adults whenever there are children. When I say two-adult rule, I use the Boy Scout definition, which means no single child can be in the custody of one adult. There must be two adults if there's a child. If there are multiple children, one adult can be present. That doesn't violate the two-adult rule. |             |
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