Why we do criminal/child abuse checks on our volunteers?

Our children's ministries (daycare, Christian school and traditional church ministries for children) have been at the core of Grace's philosophy of ministry since the beginning... if we reach the children, it will give us opportunities to build relationships with their parents. With a State-certified daycare and a Christian school, we have government standards with which we need to comply - many of which are designed to protect the children in our care. In the same way, though not government mandated, we have set standards to protect the children in all of our ministries. While their protection is in the hands of The Creator, we do take do-diligence steps for each child's safety by checking the child abuse and criminal records of the volunteers who work with minors. It's a step we feel is necessary to exercise the best stewardship over the children in our care. I was contemplating this process recently and thought of the following analogy.

In my lifetime, US vehicles have always had seat belts. I remember riding in my Opa's Chrysler's which were only equipped with lap belts, but the cars had belts. My assumption is that the first vehicles didn't have any seat belts, but that before long, either the manufacturers or the government started installing them because they provided increased safety. If I were to ride in your car, and I put on the seat belt, would you take that to mean that I didn't trust your driving skills? No, we've all accepted and it's actually law, that everyone should buckle-up when in a vehicle. Buckling-up isn't an indicator of our mistrust of the driver or of other drivers, it's a step that increases our safety.

In my thinking, the criminal and child abuse checks, though a review of private information, are very similar to my regular use of a seat belt. It's a step that increases our safety. It's not a sign of mistrust or an indicator that we question the people who are caring for children. It's a stewardship exercise that communicates that people matter.

That said, I know filling out the forms can be laborious, especially when the child abuse clearance requires you to list every person you've ever lived with. As you'll see tomorrow, I challenge anyone to come up with a longer list than the one I had.