September 30, 2002

Churches urged to develop policies to prevent child abuse
___By Toby Druin
___Editor Emeritus
___Before criticizing Catholics for the sex-abuse scandals that have rocked the nation this year, Baptists ought to make sure their own houses are in order, advises a Texas Baptist layman who specializes in volunteer screening.
___Churches that fail to provide proper safeguards, including hiring and supervisory procedures for any staff member or volunteer working with children, are "offering a path of least resistance" for sexual predators, said Mark Hughes, who provides employee screening procedures through his company, HR First Contact. He also helps screen volunteers and workers at Park Cities Baptist Church in Dallas, where he

BETH YATES, minister of childhood education at First Baptist Church of Garland, has produced a 55-minute video to guide prospective workers with children through the church's policies designed to safeguard children and protect the church against claims of child sexual abuse. The church screens all volunteers and paid workers with children and youth, including doing criminal background checks.

is a member.
___"Churches are the paths of least resistance for pedophiles," Hughes said. "If a church doesn't have a screening program, a pedophile could be working with children in a couple of weeks.
___"Many churches have been successfully sued due to negligent entrustment of employees, clergy or volunteers. The greatest sin is the sin of doing nothing" about it, he said, because it can lead to harm for the child and financial damage to the church.
___The incidence of child molestation in churches has become increasingly prevalent in recent years because many organizations such as the Boys Scouts and the YMCA have thrown up barriers to keep the molesters away, said Beth Yates, minister of childhood education at First Baptist Church of Garland.
___"The molesters now see churches, especially larger ones where they can have a degree of anonymity, as easy targets," Yates said. "Every church is eager to have volunteers who want to work with children. It's the church's responsibility to make sure their motivation for doing so is proper."
___Jana Whitworth, director of community ministries for Dallas Baptist Association, echoed that concern.
___"Someone will join a church and want to work with kids," she said. "The church naturally is excited to have them, and all of a sudden they are working with fourth graders."
___Whitworth's office offers a packet of materials to guide churches in setting up a proper procedure for screening children's workers. Also, "Keeping Your Church Out of Court," produced by the Texas Baptist Christian Life Commission, includes guidelines to protect children from harm and churches from facing lawsuits.
___Yates, who came to the Garland church four years ago from the staff of the Missouri Baptist Convention, has consulted with churches developing child security programs.
___"The best thing is to get a program in place before something happens," Yates advised. "There had been no such event here in Garland, but I was very concerned to come to a church of this size that did not have a child protection program in place."
___The Garland church began by forming a committee that gathered information about what other churches were doing and then drafted the framework for their church's policy.
___"Then we pulled in a mixture of parents and teachers and others, about 20 to 30 people, and presented the program to them and asked them what problems they saw," she said. "We tweaked it and then brought them together again along with others. By the time the policy was put in force, maybe half the church body had a basic knowledge of why we were doing it."
___Now, prospective workers are given a packet setting forth the policy, along with a 55-minute video that guides them through it. Included in the packet are forms providing the church personal references, including churches where they previously worked with children, and permission to conduct a criminal background check.
___The packet includes a statement of what Texas law requires regarding reporting incidents of child abuse and forms for making such reports.
___Yates emphasizes to volunteers that the criminal background check is for the protection of children, not to embarrass anyone or invade their privacy.
___General guidelines in the Garland policy and in the material distributed by Whitworth call for:
___ Checking references.
___ Performing criminal background checks.
___ Children and youth workers to be a member of the church for at least six months.
___ No one working alone with children where he or she cannot be observed by others.
___ At least two adults being present with the children at all times or that any time an adult meets individually with a child it be in plain sight of another adult.
___The "Keeping Your Church Out of Court" materials advise keeping a log of the people involved in child care at all times and that the records be maintained over a long period of time. The statute of limitations on incidents of child abuse lasts until two years after the child reaches the age of 18.
___"The policy is working well," Yates said. "Most of our people have responded very positively to it, because they understand what we are trying to accomplish with it. It does take time and effort to maintain. You don't just do it once."
___"Again," Yates emphasized, "we are not interested in embarrassing anyone. We do not rule out the power of the Holy Spirit to change lives. But we are interested in protecting the lives of children, and persons who have been involved in the abuse of children should not have the opportunity to do it again."
___Churches that do not make an attempt to keep molesters away from children may one day have to pay for that stand in court.
___A church can be held liable for damages if a worker or volunteer is negligent in carrying out his or her responsibilities or if the church is negligent in its selection of workers or volunteers or in their supervision, according to Butch Korb of the Fort Worth law firm of Bourland, Law and Wenzel, which developed the "Keeping Your Church Out of Court" guidelines.
___"Churches owe it to their children and to their workers to have a child abuse protection policy," Korb said.

A policy of protection
___Potential child molesters usually will move on to another target if the church makes access to children difficult. To protect their children and themselves, churches are advised to consider a policy that includes at least the following:
___ A criminal background check on all workers and volunteers. The research should cover any areas of residence or employment during the previous 10 years.
___ A waiting period of at least six months for new members before they are permitted to work with children or youth.
___ A written application form from a prospective worker and a thorough check of all personal and professional references offered, including a criminal background check from at least those counties where a prospective worker resided.
___ An interview with the prospective worker/ volunteer about the history of discipline in their home, their attitudes toward discipline and especially about any incidences of abuse or molestation they might have experienced themselves.
___ A requirement that for the protection of both the children and volunteers any work with children be carried out in the presence of at least two adults, neither of whom should be related to the other.
___

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