Basic Requirements of Screening and Hiring
Your Youth-Serving Organization (YSO) should create protocols for the application, interviewing, and screening process. Each step of the process…
Home / Screening & Hiring / What Is a Screening & Hiring Process?
Screening means thorough reference and background checks, including review of criminal and sexual offender records, for all employees, staff, volunteers, and community members whose potential employment or volunteer service involves direct contact with or the potential for unmonitored access to children (including individuals who provide transportation to children). Screening for child sexual abuse should be purposefully integrated into your standard screening and selection process for both paid and volunteer positions. All candidates for a particular position should undergo the same screening process.
Beyond employees and volunteers, it may also be appropriate to ask vendors and contractors for your organization to provide evidence that a background check was completed on any individual they send to provide your services. A background check may not be necessary if the vendor or contractor is not providing direct services to children and youth, is restricted to the area where the service is being provided, or can either be accompanied or observed. In each case, adults in your organization should know that vendor/contractor personnel are on your premises and that children/youth are not to be permitted near the workspace unaccompanied.
It’s important to note that employee and volunteer screening and selection are important, but aren’t by themselves a guarantee of safety—so they should be integrated with the many other measures and efforts we describe as part of a broader plan to prevent child sexual abuse at your organization. You must also continue to maintain vigilance and ensure that all staff members, employees, and volunteers receive adequate training, supervision, and management support to fulfill the organization’s mission. Staff screening can be time-consuming, and fees may be associated with some background checks—but that cost would be significantly exceeded by the cost of your failure to screen, should subsequent harm come to children you serve.
A well-designed screening process, in combination with the other practices outlined on this website, is an investment in the future of your youth-serving organization and the safety and wellbeing of the children and youth you serve.
Screening & Hiring
Your Youth-Serving Organization (YSO) should create protocols for the application, interviewing, and screening process. Each step of the process…
Training
The approaches in the chart below can provide frameworks that make your organization most effective when training adults and/or children/youth….
Training
When it comes to training your volunteers, there is certain core content that is critical to include in a comprehensive training program to…
Policies & Procedures
Sample Self-Audit Form for YSOs You can use the following “Self-Audit” form to take an inventory of your youth-serving organization’s abuse…
Code of Conduct
Leadership at your Youth-Serving Organization (YSO) should implement the Code of Conduct by including it in many aspects of the organization. The…
Screening & Hiring
Criminal background checks are an important tool in your screening and selection process—and you should ensure that you’re aware of any federal,…
Code of Conduct
Your Code of Conduct should cultivate standards of behavior for staff and volunteers at your Youth-Serving Organization (YSO) which prioritize child…
Training
Training for Different Audiences Training programs designed to prevent child sexual abuse take many forms and contain varying levels of detail,…
Monitoring Behavior
Protocols should be developed in order to inform staff and volunteers about supervision, communication, and reporting procedures at your…
Safe Environments
In the past, youth-serving organizations needed to worry about safety only within the physical environment—the building(s) where their services…
Customized child sexual abuse prevention guidelines to meet the unique needs of any organization that serves children.
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