Tag Archives: Headlines

It’s Time to Start Background Checking Your Volunteers

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Schools are doing it.

Churches are doing it.

Nonprofits are doing it.

They’re all background checking volunteers… and it’s probably high time for your organization to do so, too.

Why the sudden movement to ensure that all volunteers can pass at least a simple (if not a comprehensive) background check?  To be perfectly honest, the answer can be traced back to all the negatie press that’s been fluttering about thanks to problems with sexual predators in after-school programs and pedophiles in religious organizations.

Of course, not all criminals prey on children.  Other headlines regularly explain how volunteers have been able to take money from the nonprofits they are seemingly “helping”.  (In all truth, they are simply “helping” themselves to a portion of the proceeds.) 

To protect yourself and everyone in contact with your volunteers, it’s crucial to have a background checking policy in place starting ASAP.  Be prepared to have some people balk at the idea, especially if you ask them to cover the minimal payment associated with doing so.  But know that those who truly support your agency, firm or institution will gladly help you in your endeavor to make it as safe and secure as possible.

Parents May Not Always Pass Background Screening Checks to Volunteer at Schools

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With the start of schools around the country, there has been a subtle flurry of headlines related to parents who are unable to volunteer at their children’s schools.  Though it might immediately sound like the moms and dads are being denied access to their kids, it’s more likely that they couldn’t pass a background screening process.

Many schools have begun adopting a policy that only allows adults to volunteer if they can pass a basic background screening.  Typically, these types of background screenings check criminal histories (e.g., sex crimes, drug problems) and, if the volunteer position involves handling money, credit histories as well.

If the parents do not pass, the school is left with no choice but to deny them the opportunity to volunteer.

While there are certainly some groups that feel it’s “unfair” to use background screenings in this manner, we believe that it’s a great way to protect children from would-be predators.  Without background screening measures in place, the unthinkable can (and, unfortunately, sometimes does) occur.  And no school can afford that.

In the end, it’s better for everyone… even if it does ruffle a few feathers along the way.

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