Steps to Protect Children and Students

Your ministry faces different risks every day. These risks include economic and financial risks, legal risks, or organizational risks like failed ministry programs, or losing key donors.

It seems like a recurring nightmare: Another news story about a church being accused of negligence, abuse, or financial misconduct. When a failure like this occurs, it can lead to much more than financial loss. It can also impact the church’s reputation, destroy a leader’s ministry, and shake people’s faith.

One important area of risk involves the safety of our children. According to ChurchLawAndTax.com, sexual abuse of a minor is one of the top reasons churches are sued. How do you protect your church from this risk? Let’s focus on several actions that can protect the children and students that attend your church, as well as the leaders and volunteers that minister to those students.

Put it in Writing
First, implement some policies that reflect your desire to protect students and those who work with them. Put these policies in writing and make sure everyone reads and  understands them. Written policies are so important—but they must be coupled with proper training, communication, and consistent application.

Put it into Action
Second, implement specific actions that are designed to protect children and students, while providing accountability and protection for the volunteers who serve them.

Here are some procedures you may want to consider.

In the nursery:

• Require at least two adults in every room. If possible, at least one of them should be female.
• Only let women change diapers and take children to the bathroom.
• Remove safety hazards from your classrooms and play areas. For those that can’t be removed, create specific training or processes that will keep your children safe.
• Make sure your toys are safe for children.
• Develop a “claim-check” system for larger nurseries so children are released only to a parent or guardian with the appropriate claim check.

For all children:

• Create specific steps to follow when children are sick or injured. For example, what will you do if a child arrives in the nursery with a fever or runny nose?
• Create guidelines for discipline. Train workers on acceptable and unacceptable ways to handle unruly children.
• Install windows, or keep doors open in all classrooms.
• Create a safety and security team. Assign volunteers or ushers to watch for potentially dangerous situations, to roam the halls, monitor room activity, and help with child drop-off and pick-up.

For all volunteers that work with children and students:

• Require written applications for all volunteers that include references and authorization for a background check.
• Perform additional screening on volunteers that specifically work with children and students. For example:
  • Get references and check them.
  • Conduct a personal interview.
  • Obtain a criminal background check. A criminal records check is recommended for any volunteer that will have unsupervised access to minors.

For more information on how to screen volunteers and perform background checks, read these two articles: “Properly Screening Volunteers” and “Background Checks and Volunteers: Handling Red Flags.”

These procedures will not only help protect the children and students that attend your services, but will also protect the volunteers that serve them.