Penn State. In recent months those two words focused the world (again) on the topic of child sexual abuse. Fact: only 3% of child molesters actually have a criminal history. That means 97% are out there, grooming their next wave of victims – victims who will have their lives changed tragically by people whom youth serving agencies trust and admire.
A “minimum check” pre-employment screening is commonly used to avoid liability and to keep from alienating volunteers. It's purpose, however, is wallet protection, not child protection. It meets the duty-of-care specified by last century's laws that this century's sophisticated abusers easily evade. In fact abusers shop to infiltrate groups using these clumsy methods in order to get screened IN. Can your organization, or the children you serve afford the risk of these threats:
From the at-max 3% effective criminal history, and even after including a known 70% effective attitude survey, there remains a 27% risk-exposure gap at red-flagging those with child sexual abuse tendencies. When just one appearance-of-potential-for-complaint™ from the past, let alone a current incident, is more than enough to derail your entire youth-serving organization, how can you get closer to 100% assurance that no molesters have infiltrated your ranks?
The answer is to build a firewall inside your organization using new precautionary tools and methods. With these you can safely modernize staff eligibility criteria and re-qualifiy staff both old and new alike, without naming or shaming any individuals. Based on legal principles of conflict-of-interest, not law enforcement, the tools are safer to use because they neither imply nor impute criminal behavior to anyone.
Safe Harbor Child Protection Resources is a nonprofit "due diligence provider," offering youth-serving agencies unique tools, implementation, and consulting that safely go far beyond conventional screening. Call 888-8BE-SURE or use our Contact Form for more information.