Background Checks for Local, Regional and National Youth Ministry

At Unity Worldwide Ministries, we strongly suggest and encourage individual Unity ministries to conduct background screening on all adults—either paid staff or volunteers—working with minors.

Youth and family ministry provides high-risk opportunities for adults to be alone with a child or teen during church hours and off-site activities. Background screening provides the church with information that may safeguard our children, our adult volunteers, and the church. Screening will not eliminate risk altogether, but does show that the church has acted in good faith to place appropriate adults in responsible positions. 

A background screening would include:

• an application on file
• documentation that personal references given on the application have been checked
• a face-to-face interview with the applicant
• a criminal background screen

We suggest churches use a professional background screening company or the local police department. Background screenings would include a national criminal search, and a motor vehicle check would be mandatory for those individuals transporting minors.

All reports are to be considered confidential and stored in a locked area with limited access. Only the minister/and or another staff member (perhaps youth ministry director) should have access.

Due to the structure of Unity Worldwide Ministries, each church is responsible for creating and implementing sacred safety/risk management procedures such as the above. This not only safeguards your children but also those of other Unity ministries with which you interact.

Contact Info

If you have questions about who should be screened, contact kid@unity.org at Unity Worldwide Ministries. If you need suggestions about professional screening companies, please contact Cathy Christy, Executive Assistant in Minister and Ministry Services at UWM, 816.434.6841.
 

Resources for Sacred Safety

LexisNexis Volunteer Screening offers discounted prices to ministries to encourage being proactive in protecting their young people and the ministry.

For information on screening volunteers and reporting procedures for suspected abuse, read an excerpt from Chapter 16 of the Youth and Family Ministry Guide: For Directors, Ministers and Volunteers. [#6010] This invaluable resource is a must-have for all Unity churches with children/teens/families. Order the guide for the whole chapter plus information on job descriptions, training and administration.

Reducing the Risk: Keeping Your Ministry Safe From Child Sexual Abuse, 3rd Edition offers a resource kit to help your ministry become aware of the risks of child sexual abuse within the church; and to create the appropriate policies and procedures that will help reduce those risks through screening, training and prevention.

Safe Sanctuaries: Reducing the Risk of Child Abuse in the Church is another good resource to help your ministry develop awareness and protocol for protecting children in your ministries. This has been embraced by the United Methodist Churches.

Group's Church Volunteer Central is a website with the broader mission of equipping churches for volunteer effectiveness. This site offers articles, background checks, training modules, forms and access to a volunteer expert on the phone.

Church Mutual Insurance Company has a wide assortment of free safety resources including pamphlets and DVDs covering topics such as child sexual abuse, fire prevention, weather protection, playground checklists, using 15-passenger vans, release forms and more.

Child Welfare site provides information and resources on child abuse—overview, prevention, reporting requirements for each state and more.