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Ali
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| Joined: | Sat Jan 6th, 2007 |
| Location: | Ohio USA |
| Posts: | 660 |
| First Name: | Ali | | Gender: | Female | | Faith History: | JW, finally fully Catholic |
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Posted: Mon Apr 21st, 2008 06:53 pm |
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I'm just curious. Here you must have more than one fingerprinted and background checked person in a building with a student or per vehicle if traveling. If you volunteer in the school the same rules apply. But a fingerprinted/background checked person can be alone in a room with a student and have the door shut.
How's that compare with what you got? {bad English intentional, quit cringing  ).
If your child attends another type of school, public or secular private, how does this compare? Also, what about Protestant churches?
Ali
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beachmoss
Member
| Joined: | Mon Nov 13th, 2006 |
| Location: | Simpsonville, South Carolina USA |
| Posts: | 272 |
| First Name: | Beth | | Gender: | Female | | Faith History: | Catholic (raised Baptist) |
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Posted: Tue Apr 22nd, 2008 02:59 am |
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Ali, I had been wondering that too.
Here if we volunteer, such as work at VBS or teach CCD then we are required to be Virtus certified. That means we take a three hour class which mostly involves watching a video of real child molesters talk about how they did their dirty work. At the conclusion of a discussion period we get a certificate and if we took the class in our home parish it is automatically recorded there. I believe that those with permanent jobs such as the DRE must renew annually.
I was just asking our DRE about this last week. She told me there would be a class before VBS for those not certified. I asked her when I would need to be recertified, and she said it was good forever. I was shocked! The Boy Scouts require child protection renewal every three years and the Girl Scouts require a renewal, which I think is three years also. And the UMC where my Scout Troop meets requires yearly training for all volunteers. I am not required to go to theirs, but since I use their church for meetings I like to be up on their child protection policies.
Beth
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EMarshallBuckles
Member
| Joined: | Mon Nov 19th, 2007 |
| Location: | Rockville (Near Richmond), Virginia USA |
| Posts: | 584 |
| First Name: | Marshall | | Gender: | Male | | Faith History: | Christian Church,Episcopal Church,Baptist denomination,learning about RCC |
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Posted: Tue Apr 22nd, 2008 03:51 am |
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| Yes, the Baptists and other protestant denominations do have policies nowadays. A while back a northern Virginia Baptist Pastor was found to be sexually abusing children. I think that he may be in prison now. Catholics have been very unfairly singled out, however, very sadly, this sort of thing has happened in all denominations. Although we have become sort of nominal members, the large Baptist church of which my wife and I are listed as members took a while to get a program established, however, they finally made the children's areas and young people's areas much more secure than they had been with training. Nowadays, they find it hard to get people to work with the younger children because people tend to be scared off by all this stuff, but they do have some faithful people who continue to help out and who have been well screened. All churches and denominations would be very wise to make good and sure that they have security procedures in place and that they have screened and trained those who work with children as well as regularly pray for God's blessings and protection upon the little ones.
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CajunRick
Network Helper
| Joined: | Fri Sep 29th, 2006 |
| Location: | Houma, Louisiana USA |
| Posts: | 5157 |
| First Name: | Rick (& Kermie) | | Gender: | Male | | Faith History: | Lifetime Catholic, Latin Rite |
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Posted: Tue Apr 22nd, 2008 04:51 am |
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The Bishops of the United States have adopted a Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People which, I believe, every diocese in the United States has signed onto. Within the framework of that document, each diocese creates its own policy. There is an annual audit to make sure that diocese is complying with the charter, and last year all but two dioceses in the U.S. chose to be audited. The results of the audit were posted here.
The complete policy for my own diocese is available here. We are required to undertake initial training and an annual refresher. A person may miss one year for a good reason, but then must retake the initial training. Anyone missing training for two years is no longer permitted to work with young people.
We are allowed to be alone with a young person in a closed room for counseling or if the circumstances call for it. For example, when I am serving at mass, sometimes an altar server will arrive and he/she and I are alone in the sacristy. The door to the altar does not lock (but it is closed as it is a distraction to see people vesting while in prayer) and the door to the outside has a glass window that cannot be covered, so anyone passing can see whatever is going on. And of course, any young person who would be uncomfortable can simply stay in church until closer to the beginning of mass after others arrive. It has never been an issue.
Several of the altar servers will give me a hug when they arrive, and if we are alone, that is a technical violation. Some of them don't have resident fathers, and some have fathers who are very distant, so I won't stop doing it. I know there is nothing inappropriate going on and so do they. I would certainly never do anything I wouldn't do in front of their parents or the entire congregation (they will often hug me during the Sign of Peace). If I ever get to the point where I can't hug a kid, I guess I'll have to quit ministry.
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Understanding is the reward of faith. Therefore seek not to understand that you may believe, but believe that you may understand. - Augustine
Rick Luquette
Luquette Lane
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Credo Catholic
Member
| Joined: | Sat May 5th, 2007 |
| Location: | Greenville, South Carolina USA |
| Posts: | 1313 |
| First Name: | Marsha | | Gender: | Female | | Faith History: | Baptist, Catholic |
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Posted: Tue Apr 22nd, 2008 02:39 pm |
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| I'm in the same diocese as Beachmoss and I found the same policy. I did take the Virtus training and it was just the way she described, a couple of videos and a short lecture and discussion. There is also a background check. As I took my training at our parish, I was also told what specific measures had been taken there, such as office doors being replaced with ones with glass panels, and the school buildings had been evaluated for corners and out-of-the-way places where incidents could happen without notice, and measures had been taken to eliminate that. Our diocese has a toll free hotline that is always printed in our weekly newspaper for reporting any abuse or reasonable suspicion.
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