The Nonprofit FAQ
| Must we do criminal background checks on our volunteers? |
| Janet H. Hiller said in "Screening Youth Volunteers" in the Journal of Extension in the Spring of 1992: Until recently, being an interested, warm body was the main criteria for accepting an adult as a volunteer in Extension 4-H youth development programs. In Fall 1989, Washington State Cooperative Extension implemented a more stringent volunteer screening process. Three reasons precipitated this action:
In September 1988, Extension administrators gave the charge of developing screening procedures for all Extension programs involving youth to the 4-H Volunteer Development Committee. A literature search on screening procedures revealed three steps to successfully screen volunteers: application, interview, and contract. The Washington State Cooperative Extension decided on these minimal requirements:
County faculty developed management procedures that would work best for them, depending on the number of new volunteers and the number of county faculty and support staff. Many county faculty decided to interview all new volunteers and most decided to conduct reference checks. They were encouraged to develop a written policy of procedures, including who will have access to the confidential files, and keep records as long as the individuals are Extension volunteers. County faculty were given a chance to review the procedures and forms and offer suggestions. Ninety minutes of training were provided to each county Extension office over a satellite system. Training included philosophy statements by the state 4-H leader, an explanation of the procedures and forms by a state 4-H specialist, comments by a county Extension agent on management procedures, and legal and philosophical information from the Washington State University attorney general. In Spring 1990, a mail survey asked Extension agents in 39 Washington counties about the process. Of the 32 respondents, two said that the process had "not worked very well," 10 answered "okay," 15 "well," and five "very well." Agents liked receiving the necessary forms from the state Extension bulletin office and the 10-day or less turn around time for the Washington State Patrol to conduct the conviction check. Some county faculty felt the screening process should be expanded to include all leaders, not just new applicants. Recommendations were made to develop a program to train volunteers to conduct the interviews and reference checks. Some recommended expanding the screening to include checks on individuals coming to Washington from other states and checking for Driving While Intoxicated (DWI) convictions. Washington is in the second year of using a statewide screening process and firmly believes that having an Extension volunteer screening process says that Extension cares about the safety of the children and youth participating in its programs. Tassie M. Green said in CYBERVPM on Fri, 21 Feb 1997 : I personally would go back and recheck those long-term vols. I know, "ugh!" But you were perhaps breaking the law by not doing the state patrol checks in the past (if vols work with vulnerable populations such as children or elderly it's mandated by WA state law, so check your state.)If not breaking your state law, you probably weren't keeping up with common practice, so I'd be on the safe side and do it. If there's an incident and someone takes you to court you won't get to use a "grandfather clause" excuse for those vols. Whatever your policy, make sure you can be consistent in executing it each time. For our KidREACH tutoring program we even increased our screening one additional step last year by adding 2 reference checks (non-relative references) to our policy of doing the state patrol check. We felt it was a proactive step to anticipate the trend. Our attorney is of course much more comfortable that we are doing everything we can to avoid "gross negligence" which is apparently a key issue if anything ever went to trial. Originally posted by Nan Hawthorne, 2/25/97. Items consolidated 2/14/05 -- PB |