CHURCH BOARD GUIDE TO A CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE PREVENTION POLICY


• Create a disposal policy for individuals who are hired. All employ- ment documents pertaining to the applicant who is hired should be retained permanently by the church in a confiden- tial file. Once the person is no longer in the employment of the church, all confidential forms and documents should be placed in a sealed envelope and retained in a locked file.


• Create a disposal policy for individuals who apply but are not hired. EEOC and state laws typically require retention of all employment applications for a period of three years. These documents serve as evidence if an allegation of discrimination occurs. Following that period, these materials should be disposed of. Ideally, they should be shredded, so they cannot be retrieved intact from the trash.


Screen volunteer workers Screening volunteer workers poses a different set of issues than screen- ing paid employees. Yet a church is just as responsible for using rea- sonable care in the selection of volunteer staff members who work with children as it is for selecting paid employees. The issue is not the employment status of the worker, but the individual’s responsibili- ties. This section examines some of the roadblocks that churches often encounter in screening volunteers, and reviews steps that can be taken to overcome those roadblocks. Screening volunteers is different than screening paid positions, espe-


cially within a church. Volunteers are not seeking employment; rather they are donating their time and energy. These volunteers are often some of the most active and supportive members of the congregation. They are called upon over and over again to serve in positions of leader- ship and responsibility. They embody the values and commitments that make a church function as a family, and as a community of faith. Bibli- cally, it is this sharing of gifts that makes the church the body of Christ. Yet, volunteer workers also molest children. Research over the past


decade involving thousands of congregations demonstrates that real- ity. The findings indicate that, in general, the perpetrators of abuse are more likely to be volunteers than paid staff members. Some of these vol- unteers who molest children are predatory and have multiple victims. Others may molest a teenage girl or boy on just one occasion. Some- times they are leaders within the church or members of longstanding


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