Creating a Safe Church (Control Access, Monitoring Programs) Some adults should be kept as far from kids as possible. Controlling access is about keeping people like this away from children as much as possible.
Screen all volunteers - Background Checks, reference checks, etc. - While it is true that a person has to have been caught or reported sometime before this will turn anything up, it is sadly amazing how many incidents would be prevented if adults in responsible positions had done this!
Know where kids are at all times - pretty self-explanitory
Parents or guardians (but only parents or guardians) should be allowed to visit a class or daycare center, anytime with or without notice. Drop in sometime on your kids' daycare, if applicable.
Monitor all programs. Some people start new church programs without proper permission. DO NOT TOLERATE THIS! Make sure all programs go through approval process, no exceptions. It crates loopholes for example, if you do background checks but people start programs and such for your church or school without proper permission. They might not have been screened/ Also, an aware pastor or other supervisor might see red-flags in some "programs" for outreach or whatever that are created with these evil ulterior motives. You can't use your discernment for this without being on top of what is going on and making sure no one does these things without your permission.
Lock all unused rooms - probably self-explanitory. People can get behind closed doors with a kid whose trust they have somehow won if the unused doors are not locked! Only carefully screened people should have keys, and they shouldn't be unlocking these doors without good reasons.
Thank you for reading,and please take this seriously. It is part of being salt and light, to shelter innocents from devastation, especially within your own church or community.
Godspeed.
~Mother Star
