Best Practices for Background Screening Church Volunteers: Strategies 4for Success

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1 Best Practices for Background Screening Church Volunteers: Strategies 4for Success 1

2 Executive Summary Create an easy and effective volunteer background check system at your church by establishing these best practices. With a sound screening program for volunteers, churches can be more assured that their congregation is safe. By following these tips, you can remove many of the unnecessary burdens from screening volunteers, allowing your church to focus on the individuals and causes that your volunteer efforts support. Contents Introduction...3 #1) Set Clear Policies...4 #2) Streamline Your Process...5 #3) Understand Screening Methodology...6 #4) Alternate Funding Solutions...7 Conclusion...8 Self Assessment Guide...9 2

3 Introduction Volunteers are often the backbone of church organizations; unfortunately, not every individual who expresses interest in volunteering has only the best intentions. Because a church s foundation is built on trusting those within the congregation, there is a significant risk for individuals to take advantage of such a welcoming environment. On a regular basis, the media posts stories with shocking headlines like, Church Volunteer Arrested, which regrettably reinforces the idea that not everyone who wants to volunteer is doing so for the right reasons. Cases regularly include harm done to children as well as financial improprieties. The church has a responsibility to protect both its congregation and assets. Although not every incident can be prevented, there is one tool churches can utilize to minimize risk: background screening. Properly vetting individuals with key roles within the church assures that anyone with a past of severe criminal offenses will not be in a position to cause harm to the church s members, guests or property. This whitepaper examines the challenges that church leaders and administrators may face when establishing or assessing a volunteer background check program, including: Creating and Implementing Policies Administrative Burdens and Compliance Concerns Understanding Screening Methodology Funding Next is a detailed review of understanding these challenges and how to introduce proven strategies to overcome them. A self assessment of your screening program is also included with this whitepaper. 3

4 1) Set Clear Policies First, churches should inform and educate its membership on why volunteer screening is important and what the screening procedures will entail, including: Directions on how to complete the background screen and what information is required The scope of the background screen Information regarding cost The offenses that would preclude an individual from volunteering How often the screens will occur (best practices recommend annual rescreening but at a minimum every two years) To avoid unnecessary conflict, recording these policies in a formal document and providing them to your members is imperative. Sharing this information in advance will act as a screen in itself. This may be a deterrent for some volunteers, but it can actually be an ideal opportunity to start a dialogue with those with past offenses. Addressing any issues upfront rather than later allows for open communication. Policies should be adhered to consistently and universally. All volunteers should be screened regardless of how well you know them. Only screening certain individuals can expose your church to legal liability. Not only is it important to have policies on what infractions would preclude individuals from volunteering, but it is equally important to enforce those policies. Your organization must also enforce these policies consistently and apply them to all volunteers to best mitigate risk. 4

5 2) Streamline Your Process By partnering with a reputable background screen provider, the review of results and management of notifications can be greatly simplified. Further enhancing efficiency, the provider should have a web based system allowing for church personnel to review and track the screen process. Because church officials are not experts at reading court records, partner with a vendor that can help you manage this process. A consumer reporting agency (CRA) can facilitate "pass" determinations so that you only have to review reports with serious offenses, which could diminish your review time by up to 80%! Using a web platform also allows for the background check to be paperless. Applicants can e-sign authorization forms and even key in their own information, which will almost entirely reduce the administrative burden from your office. A paperless system also puts to rest concerns about an individual's personal data being compromised. Removing paper means there is no need for a shredding policy or file cabinets full of paper forms. Churches can also streamline the process when applicants are denied. Volunteers are considered employees under the law so the same rules apply, including the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). FCRA typically applies when employers use a CRA, but regardless of how you receive your reports, you should ensure that denied applicants are properly notified as well as provided a dispute process should they want to challenge anything found in the report. CRAs can manage this entire process for you, ensuring your compliance and that every applicant's consumer rights are protected. 5

6 3) Understand Screening Methodology All background screens are not created equal. Misinformation about background checks is rampant, and many churches are operating under a false sense of security. If your current search methods are exclusively a national database or Sex Offender Registry, you could be placing your congregation at risk. The use of the term national is misleading, as there is no single database that receives and aggregates data from every U.S. court. This type of database is a very valuable supplemental tool but trusting it as a sole source is very risky. The most sophisticated commercial database has about 400 million unique records (10 times the size of the FBI database) but only covers about 50% of U.S. courts. So why do many background screen vendors promote a national database search as a standalone product? Some background check vendors value profit over integrity and are more than happy to sell your church high profit database searches rather than best practice screening methodologies that cost them more to produce. A reputable vendor should be able to inform you of what the data sources are and how often these sources are updated as well as provide you with the most reliable background screen. The most reliable screen has these minimum requirements: Address History Trace (AHT) Find out where your volunteer has lived and search for records there. AKAs (Also Known As) Search additional names a person has used; these are discovered in an AHT. County Court Search Submit searches here based on the address trace; the most complete records are found at the county level, which is the court of record. National Commercial Database Search Use a national database in addition to county searches as a safety net to find other records. Anything found on this search should be verified at the court of record. National Sex Offender Search Check real-time sex offender registries everywhere available, not just your state or a national database. If your provider says you re receiving the county court searches through the national database or through their vetting and verification process, you should reevaluate your search immediately. 6

7 4) Alternate Funding Solutions Developing an effective volunteer screening program can seem like an inconsequential expense compared to other needs. But the consequences of not screening or weakening the effectiveness of a screen can be much more costly. An alternative is to consider a self pay program. With self-pay, volunteer applicants can make payment directly to a CRA or third party, meaning there is no cost to your church. This is a reasonable request, and when positioned against reducing the quality of the screening program, your congregation will see this as a sensible alternative. For those who cannot afford the screen but still want to volunteer, discretionary funds can be put aside to assist when necessary. 7

8 Conclusion Screening your volunteers is an important part of your safety plan; having an effective program in place minimizes risk and enhances safety. Implementing these best practices can greatly enhance your screening process, allowing your church to be a safe place for all to gather and worship. 8

9 Church & Ministry Background Check Program Self Assessment Guide These questions can help you evaluate the effectiveness of your current program. 1. Are you currently using a database only search? The easiest way to determine if this applies to your program is if the package promotes a national criminal database search. 2. Is the county court search only conducted to verify a national database hit? Using a county search based on a jurisdictional profile is the most reliable search methodology. 3. Are your search results instant? Instant results (returned in less than a few hours) are a sign of database searches that have not been vetted and may also be non-compliant with FCRA. 4. Do you receive a list of probable matches in your reports? Many database searches produce lots of results for common names. This is another sign of unconfirmed database searches that leaves you with more questions than answers. 5. Did your vendor not disclose the significant risk of using a database only search? If you answered YES to any of these questions, your organization may be at risk. Talk to us about implementing an accurate, reliable search. 9

10 About BIB BIB offers background screening with integrity. We screen, test and verify the backgrounds of your employees and volunteers. Clients love our responsive service and how we accelerate their speed to hire while reducing their costs. With BIB, you get reliable results and easy technology. We re good at what matters and have been since BIB is a founding member of NAPBS and a member of SHRM, AASPA, NACBA, ASA and NRPA. About Secure Volunteer Secure Volunteer is a web based, turnkey platform for screening volunteers. Volunteers enter their own data, removing paper forms from the process. Secure Volunteer manages who has been screened and when, facilitates the approval process, provides a professional grade screen and supplies approved volunteers with ID cards. With Secure Volunteer, organizations screen better and quicker without sacrificing quality or breaking their budgets. 10