Jun 14 2007
Are you a volunteer for a church organization? You may want to know this.
I found out that even as a volunteer, there are guidelines and requirements that must be met by the organization in order to operate. An organization could be anything that is run by the church or a summer camp. There are certain rules and actions that an organization must make in order to ensure that the children or youth they manage are well cared for and even yet, the organization must be well-informed about the laws and policies regarding abuse.
There are lots of programs run by the church and most of the time, it involves youths. I remember participating in a youth ministry while I was living in Baltimore. I was a volunteer to accompany the youth group to a white water rafting trip for the weekend. They entrusted these kids to my care, and other several adults and anything could have happened. Kids need to be protected against child abuse – be it sexual, physical or emotional. Church and other similar organizations must be informed of appropriate procedures to be followed in case this happens and a child discloses that they have been abused in one of their programs.
The pastor or priest must be aware of and familiar with their own church’s policies regarding abuse and abuse allegations. It should be explicit and clear for them to implement it. There should be an abuse allegation response plan that is reviewed every year and all leadership members and board must understand it and agree with its process.
I have heard of a company that will perform all the background checks, making sure that your child is safe in the care of the volunteers. The company is called Take Care (http://www.take-care.ca) . I think that this is a great start in ensuring that children left in the care of organizations and volunteers are protected against these types of behavior.
Take Care (http://www.take-care.ca) serves not only churches but also non-profit organizations. They can also provide information that these types of organizations need in order to be well prepared for any and all types of cases.
It was founded by Rudy Kehler. And just who is Rudy Kehler?
Rudy has a history of caring for people. He believes strongly that organizations have an obligation to blatantly care for those they employ so that the employees or volunteers will in turn, care responsibly.
Rudy led a denominational children’s camp and conference centre for 18 years as Executive Director. During his tenure there developing a flourishing outdoor education program for public school children. He served on the provincial accreditation board of directors for residential camps and the national, Canadian Camping Association board. He has consulted to non-profit groups and businesses in the areas of team building, policy development and communication.
If you work as a volunteer for a church, non-profit organization or children’s camp – - you should really consider Take Care (http://www.take-care.ca). It is better to be prepared than to suffer the consequences.
This is a sponsored post.
