How a church uses background checks
Seems like lately we’ve seen story after story about how one church or another didn’t do background checks that should have been done. So it was great to see the story in Christianity Today about how one church uses background checks and other tactics to preserve the safety of the children in its care.
The article is titled “Playing It Safe.” It’s about how they handle background checks and other security at Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, Illinois.
You should read this piece whether you’re a church or a business or a day care center or any other kind of organization looking for best practices on security. I’m just going to hit some highlights.
The story quotes David Staal who is director of the church’s Promisland Program for children. Here’s a quote I loved. “Safety is one area you can’t ever compromise on or the whole ministry is at risk. You need to bat a thousand every time.”
That’s a good attitude for security anywhere. Here are some of the things Staal does that you can emulate.
The children’s program is in a secure area of the church. Access is limited. The church maintains a “No access” list for people not allowed in, and enforce it with a check-in procedure.
They also have a thorough application process for volunteers who want to work with children. It’s a good model for any application process. Here’s Staal’s description of it.
“The application process deters a lot of people. Because we ask a lot of personal questions, […]
Bad communication can wreck a good policy decision
The headline pretty much said it all: “CMS: ‘We blew it’ on staff memo.” CMS? That’s Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools. Here’s the story of what happened.
The school system has been doing criminal background checks on new hires for years. When a teacher was caught shooting heroin on school property and when it turned out that same teacher had a history of drug abuse, the school system decided that they ought to check out current employees, too.
So far, so good. The idea was to take steps so that students and teachers in the system were kept safe. Background checks for current employees seem to becoming more common. Teachers even supported the idea, according to the Charlotte Observer.
So a staffer put together a memo and that’s where the problem started. It went out to 18,000 workers and informed them that unless they authorized the district to investigate their finances, background, character and “mode of living” they could be fired. They had a couple of days to sign the form.
Even though the additional background checks had been discussed, workers simply weren’t ready for anything like this. It arrived out of the blue. It was a shock.
The tone was heavy-handed. Comply by Friday, or else!
Just to add insult to injury, the memo didn’t represent the policy accurately. The district wanted to do criminal checks to look for people who might be a danger to students and staff. The memo described a credit check and even used wording taken from the Fair Credit Reporting Act.
To his […]
Praise for background checks
Yvonne Mintz, managing editor of The Facts, a newspaper in Brazoria Country, Texas wrote an insightful editorial titled: “BISD made right decision [budgeting money for quality background checks] for our children.” Here’s the core of her argument.
Sad as it is for a school district to have to pay big bucks for advanced background checks on potential and current employees, as well as volunteers, there is no question about the need for a thorough system for vetting people who work with our children — or our money. That’s why Brazosport ISD’s school board made the right decision in voting to spend $14,620 a year on quality background checks that go far beyond what the district has in place now. The number of teachers accused of abusing students and staff members caught with their hands in the taxpayer till or worse is high all over the place, it seems. Not all accused offenders have prior history, but schools who aren’t doing everything they can to weed out applicants who do simply are inviting trouble.
It’s good to see someone who gets it. You don’t do background checks and expect to catch everyone who might later do something evil or predatory. You do them because it’s smart.
As Damon Runyon, author of Guys and Dolls, put it: “The race may not always be to the swift, nor victory to the strong, but that’s the way you bet.”
In the case of background checks, you “bet” that most of the people who will prey on children […]
Look, I’ve got my background check right here
WBNS-TV10 in Central Ohio reports on a really horrific story. It involves an unusual twist on the issue of criminal background checks as part of hiring. Here’s how it goes.
Karen Carter applied for and got a job as business office manager at a nursing home called the Sanctuary at Tuttle Crossing in Central Ohio. According to the station, “Carter’s state criminal records background check was forged.” She also lied on her application and said she had no criminal record.
In fact, Ms Carter has quite a record. She’s on probation for theft. She was already set to appear in court to answer charges “including forgery, theft, identity theft and falsification.” And now there’s a warrant for her arrest on charges of stealing thousands of dollars from patients at the nursing home where she worked.
I’d call her a pro, except she keeps getting caught. But Ms Carter certainly is a predator.
You may be thinking, “Wow. We’d never have caught her either. She had a forged background check.” Think again.
A forged background check means that someone at the nursing home and involved in the hiring process was either lazy, extremely gullible, or asleep at the switch. If the home relied on a forged document, either Ms. Carter brought it with her or she selected the person or company who provided it.
My guess is that she went from home to home with her forged document, hoping to find someone dumb enough or lazy enough or dishonest enough to hire her. Evidently she […]
Expediency is no excuse
Under the headline, “Officials mandate screening staffers“, Florida Today reports the following.
“Effective today, no employee will be hired by the city without undergoing a criminal background check.” Here’s the background.
On January 15, the City Council of West Melbourne voted to hire Doug Wyckoff to a three-year contract as city attorney for more than $100,000 per year, even though he had not cleared a criminal background check. The majority of the Council probably figured that Wyckoff was an honest looking fellow and there was no need to wait.
Well, you know that if we’re writing about this, that all did not turn out well. When the background check results finally came in, they showed that several different women he’s had relationships with have taken out temporary restraining orders on Mr. Wyckoff. Ooops.
What was the city’s reaction? Well, first, they went ahead and approved an amended contract for Mr. Wyckoff. He says he’s glad to have support of the majority of the Council and he hopes that pesky issue of the restraining orders will die down since it’s “not in the best interests of the city.” Not to mention Mr. Wyckoff’s best interests.
Then the Council passed a resolution to make any hiring for any position in the city contingent on passing a background check. There’s no policy for that so one will have to be drafted. Perhaps the new city attorney can help.
I don’t get it. Didn’t the city ask Mr. Wyckoff if he had a record? If they did ask […]
Red-faced in Florida
Boy, are they red-faced at the Florida Department of Children and Families (DCF). That’s the state agency responsible for making sure that children in the care of the state are treated properly. The agency has been in the headlines before for a variety of problems.
Now the Orlando Sentinel reports that “Florida DCF to screen employees’ backgrounds.” What’s involved is a review of the records of all the 13,000 plus agency employees to make sure that every one has been fingerprinted and every one has had a criminal background check.
Why would they do that? The situation is a bit like what happens when a house is burglarized and then the homeowner purchases an alarm system. It takes a crisis to change practice.
This crisis involves the main public spokesperson for the agency. His name is Al Zimmerman and he was the public face of DCF, the person you saw on screen or heard on the radio or saw quoted in the newspaper telling you about the good work that DCF does.
Zimmerman was in those same media on the first of February when he was arrested on eight counts of “using a child in a sexual performance.” The Sentinel reports that, “According to the arrest report, Zimmerman offered two teens money in exchange for photographing them in sexual acts.” One of the teens was in the care of DCF.
The irony is that the background checks that the DCF is instituting wouldn’t have spotted Zimmerman as a potential child porn offender. Despite checking […]