jacq- gotta a shop question for ya...

[playfulmama]

i went to this conference (for my UMC district) yesterday on safe sanctuaries. it was by a woman named joy melton, she wrote safe sanctuaries. it was all about lowering the risk of sexual abuse in the church. it was very scary and compelling....anyway, she said basically every person in any contact with children should have several background

Comments

[playfulmama]

yes, it makes lots of sense... we have a similar security system, except ours are laminated name tags that include any special info like allergies, medical issues, blah, blah, blah- the parent's have a matching bracelet- only the parent with the bracelet can pick up the child. the bracelets are handed out when the kids come in the door- we hold onto them during the week. every child has one.

all our paid workers and volunteers (grade school sunday school teachers, because it is a long term commitment) have background checks too. we have a volunteer appreciation brunch too- but that is a fantastic idea to have the cpr info follow that. it's a great way to train and get all the info you need at one shot.

a few more questions though-
how do you handle your nursery, toddler and two's staffing?
how many kids do you have from 0-3?
do you have permanent volunteers?

we have our paid workers (which have background checks) plus the parents that each sign-up 4 times a year, i'm wondering if this is a bad idea now. it's just too many people (like possibly over 100) to get background checks and personal references on. not to mention, the woman who ran the conference suggested a six month waiting period from when a person joins the church to when they can start volunteering)
i have such a hard time now finding people to volunteer to work in the nursery and it's like pulling teeth to even get the parents to do their 4 times. i think they are tired and want a break from their kids on sunday morning, kwim?
the church is growing quickly (about 700 attending) and has LOTS of very little children. i very much want our program to be safe. and i'm only in charge of infants, toddlers and two's so i feel i should make the extra effort. it's a part-time job, we have no nursery committee- are you seeing a pattern here? we are in a affluent suburb and i think most of the people prefer to have these things taken care of for them. there aren't lots of "regulars", there are so many that come and go.
i'm just 15 hours a week (which we all know in church work means more) but maybe it's time for me to enlist some help. i just don't think i can do it by myself.

thanks for your input- it's good to know what other's are doing...

i think we are pretty on par with most churches regarding this issue- but after that seminar it didn't feel like enough. our policies are all in order but it seems like we might need to beef up our volunteers and ditch the parent's helping.

thanks again!