CHURCH BOARD GUIDE TO A CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE PREVENTION POLICY


done and the forms used should be carefully thought out by the church board.


Screen paid employees All paid employees, including clergy, should go through a screening pro- cess. Screening potential employees is routine throughout our culture. The level of screening is tied to the nature of the employee’s responsi- bilities. Any individuals who work with children, the elderly, the devel- opmentally disabled, and in various other areas of health care settings, generally go through a screening process that includes the completion of a written application, reference checks, a personal interview, and a criminal records check. In a growing number of organizations individ- uals with felony convictions are often barred from employment. Orga- nizations hiring these individuals want to protect their constituents from potential abuse and other forms of victimization. The organiza- tions also want to limit their liability by developing hiring practices that meet a standard of reasonable care in case an employee engages in misconduct in the future. For example,


if your church recruits an employee who later


molests a child and a lawsuit ensues, a key legal issue will be demon- strating the steps your church took to screen that individual. The concern is whether your church can demonstrate “reasonable care.” A jury will hear evidence establishing the steps that your church took in hiring of that individual, and those steps will be examined in light of what other organizations do, including expert testimony of what level of care is reasonable to protect children. Churches are held to the same standard of care as all other organizations that work with children. While no single standard of reasonable care exists, based on past


court cases, several factors have emerged as the basis for reasonable care to use in the selection process. Churches that 1) use a written employment application, and 2)


conduct reference checks, 3) personally interview the candidate, and 4) train workers—have not been found liable on the basis of negligent selection. Risk can be reduced further by conducting a criminal back- ground check. Failure to screen paid employees that work with children places the


church and its leaders in serious legal jeopardy. As mentioned above, the steps for demonstrating reasonable care regarding the selection of paid employees are:


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