Safe Environment Strategies: Visibility
Safe Environment Strategies: Visibility Whether or not you can control the design of your space, physical safety depends on your ability to…
Home / Screening & Hiring / Know the State & Federal Laws That Apply
State and federal laws and regulations require specific types of screening and background checks—particularly criminal and sexual offense records checks—for individuals and professions that provide certain services to children and youth. Specific types of screening and background checks may also be required in order for you to receive state or federal funding.
There is no “one size fits all” screening requirement—organizations have their own unique requirements and may make different decisions about what background checks to conduct. Some (e.g., public schools) have strict requirements, while others are left to the discretion of the organization (e.g., an afterschool program in a faith community). These requirements may also limit the use of certain types of screening information to exclude an individual from consideration. Therefore, if, after review, you’re still uncertain about the rules and requirements that apply to your operation, we recommend that your leadership consult with an attorney and/or relevant professional association(s) for advice and guidance.
We do have one universal recommendation, however: that every youth-serving organization like yours implements some level of a background check and screening for all employees and volunteers without exception—even if an applicant is known to you—especially if unsupervised or unmonitored interactions with children are expected. And keep in mind as you conduct criminal history and background checks that, unless specified otherwise by law, the existence of a criminal record does not necessarily automatically disqualify an applicant.
Safe Environments
Safe Environment Strategies: Visibility Whether or not you can control the design of your space, physical safety depends on your ability to…
Screening & Hiring
Finding and retaining a qualified and diverse workforce is one of the greatest challenges for youth-serving organizations like yours. Given the…
Training
Once you have identified your training expectations and standards and have researched current and available local and national training, explore…
Safe Environments
Safe Environment Strategies: Access Complementing the physical aspects of safety are the procedural aspects of safety and security, and how…
Code of Conduct
Your Code of Conduct is an essential tool to help you ensure the safety of the children and youth in your care, and prevent child sexual abuse.
Monitoring Behavior
Monitoring Behavior is the responsibility of all staff to hold each other accountable for appropriate behaviors and to report inappropriate conduct…
Sustainability
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Reporting
Sometimes, a child/youth might self-disclose an abusive situation to an adult in your organization. These disclosures can be direct, where the child…
Training
When it comes to training your volunteers, there is certain core content that is critical to include in a comprehensive training program to…
Code of Conduct
Your Code of Conduct will be unique to your organization, based on your size, purpose, location, staffing, ages served, additional vulnerabilities…
Customized child sexual abuse prevention guidelines to meet the unique needs of any organization that serves children.
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