Summary of Volunteer Screening
Child Protection Process
Short Term Mission Trip Participants
Children are a precious resource entrusted to us and their care and protection is a top priority. In a world where sexual and physical abuse of children is a sad reality, many churches are taking steps to assure that the children related to their ministry are safe and secure from sexual and physical abuse. The IMB is joining the growing number of churches in implementing a child protection process. Because almost everyone serving on the mission field interacts with children, the IMB is asking that all short term mission trip participants ages 18 and older receive protection training and go through a background screening process.
EVERY VOLUNTEER NEEDS TO COMPLETE THE FOLLOWINGS 3 STEPS
1. I. Participate in a 30 minute Child Protection Training Session.
This can be done on line or in a team group meeting.
This is a one-time (every four years) training no matter how many mission trip you take in the future.
The training video includes:
· The problem of child sexual abuse
· Critical components to reduce the risk of child abuse
· Signs of sexual abuse
· Responding to reports of child sexual abuse
· Ways to protect workers from false allegations
Individual learner's guides and leader's guides are available on the following links.
o Watch training videos: View now (left click) ... Download QuickTime file here (550 MB) (right click and "Save target as") ...
o View and download Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) files for Leader's Guide, Learner's Guide, Answers to Learner’s Guide Questions,
2. II. Background Screening
This screening is also a one-time (every four years) process. It involves a criminal background check (county, state and national) and an interview questionnaire. This screening is done through Protect My Ministry for a $7.50 fee.
3. III. Confidential references
The team leader will contact a personal reference provided by each team participant to verify their Christian character and moral conduct. This can be done with the Confidential Reference Questionnaire.
Team leaders are responsible to inform the missionary or field contact person in writing (or by email) that all team members have completed the three step process.