Who's minding the kids?
Holston churches tackle
child-abuse issues
By Annette Bender
UNITED METHODISTS SAY they want "open doors" and "open minds." But when it comes to protecting children and youth from sexual abuse, some congregations are taking a closer look at the volunteers and staff who walk through their doors.
In light of the Catholic Church's struggle with a growing sexual abuse scandal – and recent news of a United Methodist youth pastor indicted for abusing three teenage boys in Jackson, Tenn. – many churches are reevaluating their procedures for protecting young people. A recent United Methodist News Service article explains how the denomination combats sexual abuse through policies and awareness. (See page 6.)
In Holston Conference, churches and other groups vary widely in how they approach child-abuse prevention, especially in screening children and youth workers.
For the first time this year, Cokesbury United Methodist Church is kicking off the back-to-school season with sexual offense background checks on all volunteers who work with children and youth. Cokesbury's paid staff members are routinely checked for criminal records at hiring.
Mel Stripling, Cokesbury director of operations, said the decision to screen its 150 volunteers through the Web site, www.screenchurchstaff.com, will cost the Knoxville church at least $1,500 this year. Stripling also checks lists of local sexual-abuse offenders through the Knox County sheriff's department and Knoxville city police.
"In talking with other business administrators across the country, this is something that a lot of churches are starting to do," Stripling said.
Holston Conference Camping and Leisure Ministries also implemented background checks on all summer camp workers for the first time this year, at a cost of up to $24 for each of its 150 non-clergy staff, according to Director Randy Pasqua. Clergy backgrounds are checked during the candidacy process or when they transfer into Holston from other conferences or denominations, according to the conference secretary's office.
The Rev. Pasqua and his staff required background checks as part of the hiring process after a period of "trying to decide whether it was worth the expense with the information received." The camping office uses the Web site, www.nationalbackground.com, to check workers' backgrounds in counties where they have lived and attended school.
"We know most of the people we hire," Pasqua said, "but just because you know them doesn't mean you know everything about them. We decided that [background checks] are worth the assurance."
Make it easy
Other city-based churches with large groups of children, youth and workers – such as First Centenary in Chattanooga and Concord in Knoxville – perform criminal background checks on paid child-care staff only. Barbara Berwanger, First Centenary director of children's ministries, said the cost of doing background checks is a deterrent, but also, asking volunteers for personal information and permission to check for criminal records could be intimidating.
"We might lose volunteers if they have to do a lot of paperwork," Berwanger said. "We have to make it easy for them."
There's more to screening workers and preventing child abuse than doing criminal background checks, of course. Many United Methodist churches rely on policies and procedures in the 1998 manual, "Safe Sanctuaries: Reducing the Risk of Abuse," by Joy Thornburg Melton. The book is available from Discipleship Resources at (800) 685-4370.
Church Street UMC in Knoxville does not perform background checks on paid staff or its 33 children's Sunday school teachers or volunteers. However, paid workers do fill out forms adapted from the "Safe Sanctuaries" book, submit references, and are interviewed by at least two people before hiring, according to Sue Isbell, director of children's ministry.
"As for our volunteers, we make certain that we know [them] well before asking them to serve," Isbell said. "They must be church members or long-time attenders."
Church Street, which has 200 children on the rolls for Sunday school and other activities, also has a policy of pairing workers so that no one person is left alone with children. A superintendent roves the building to check on classroom activities.
"We may not have the safest, by-the-book system, but it is one that has worked well here for years," Isbell said.
First-Centenary has child-abuse prevention policies similar to Church Street's. In addition, they keep all classroom doors open and mandate that paired workers cannot be from the same families, since family members have been known to help each other commit sexual abuse.
Some small- and medium-size congregations report that screening their children and youth workers doesn't seem necessary because they know their people so well.
"We don't have a problem here because everyone knows everyone," said Jennifer Payne, music director at First Richlands UMC, Tazewell District. "The same people work with the youth and children every year." First Richlands averages 166 in weekly worship attendance.
At Pisgah UMC, also in Tazewell District, the Rev. Jared Wood is the only paid staff member. He and his volunteers – mostly parents and grandparents of youth members – work with as many as 40 to 45 young people at a time. One of the newer volunteers is a schoolteacher who isn't a parent but is known and respected by church members.
"I guess we're just a trusting bunch," said Wood. "Somebody could come in here and have a devious past and I could be floored. But if our church members can vouch for a volunteer, then we take their judgment. It's mainly an issue of trust."
Raising the bar
Experts agree that the issue of child-abuse prevention is increasingly complex. It's not only a social services issue, it's a legal issue that church administrators are attempting to navigate, they say.
"There's very definitely a liability issue there," says Jay Garrison, Holston Conference chancellor. "You need to be aware and take whatever steps you can to reach the appropriate comfort level."
While "Safe Sanctuaries" has been helpful for some churches – and the denomination's General Board of Discipleship and General Board of Global Ministries offers to answer questions by email or telephone – some Holston ministers have found that stepping up their child-abuse prevention policies isn't an easy task. A bill pending in Congress would create a central agency to process criminal background checks and coordinate information from all 50 states – something that Holston camping ministry leader Pasqua says he welcomes.
"It's economically unfeasible to do background checks county by county," he said.
Some ministers say they wish the conference could provide more training or direction to help them protect children. When St. Elmo UMC organized two "Safe Sanctuaries" workshops for 20 volunteers and four paid workers this summer, the church asked a social worker from the city human resources department to lead training when no one else was available.
Becky Myatt, chair of St Elmo's children and youth council, said the training sessions were "something we felt we needed to do for the community as well as the church. We hope other churches will want to do some training, and it would be great if someone from the conference would lead it."
At First Pulaski UMC in Wytheville District, Youth Director Craig Henley is working with church leaders to implement a child-prevention policy that he hopes will include background checks on all workers.
"When society is doing it on a routine basis, it's a shame that the church doesn't," the Rev. Henley said. "I would like to see someone stand up for more clear-cut policies."
A "Safe Sanctuaries" program may be presented by Holston Conference in the future and staff members welcome questions and input. Anita Ayers Henderlight, Holston Conference children's ministry coordinator, recommends the "Safe Sanctuaries" manual as well as other resources provided on this page.
"You can never take too many precautions in terms of children's safety," Henderlight said. "Any size church needs to be concerned about the safety of our children."
Helpful sites
www.discipleshipresources.org
Search for "safe sanctuaries." The book "Safe Sanctuaries: Reducing the Risk of Child Abuse in the Church" is available for $15.95 plus shipping and handling.
www.gcfa.org
Click on "A-Z Listing" on the General Council on Finance & Administration's site, then look for the risk management articles, "Screening Volunteers and Paid Staff Workers with Children and Youth" and "The Church Nursery."
www.umc.org/initiative/cfagc/
Click on "Checklist" under the Bishops' Initiative on Children & Poverty heading, then look for information on "Reducing the Risk of Child Abuse."
www.LeadershipJournal.net.
Click on the article in the Summer 2002 issue, "Screening Children's Workers."
www.churchsafety.com
Books are available for screening workers and reducing childabuse risk.
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