All church volunteers who work with youth must have background checks

By Patrick Downes | Hawaii Catholic Herald

How to get screened For background screening follow these steps 1. Go to www.shieldthevulnerable.org 2. Click on “Signup or Login.” 3. Click on “Signup: first time” 4. Select “Honolulu Diocese (HI)” 5. Click “next” and confirm if selection is correct. 6. Complete all steps in the background screening and registration processes. Review registration and if correct, “accept” the license and click on “confirm registration.” For Safe environment training Once registration has been confirmed, you will be taken to your course selection page where you may begin the online training program. The entire process takes about 90 minutes. If you can’t complete it in one sitting, you may log out and return at a later time. After the screening The diocesan background screening coordinator will notify the pastor or principal of the volunteer’s clearance. Automatic disqualifiers A person will not be allowed to volunteer if he or she is found to have been convicted of the following crimes: child abuse, sexual abuse of a minor or adult, causing a child’s death, child neglect, kidnapping, murder, manslaughter, felony assault, arson or criminal sexual conduct. These are automatic disqualifiers with no possibility of appeal. Other records such as a controlled substance conviction or a violation of temporary restraining order are “potential” disqualifiers which a volunteer may appeal. The diocese makes the final decision. Other dioceses that use the Shield the Vulnerable Oakland, Calif. San Francisco, Calif. Stockton, Calif. Orange, Calif. Los Angeles, Calif. Monterey, Calif. Santa Rosa, Calif. San Jose, Calif. Gaylord, Mo. Los Angeles Episcopal, Calif. Burlington, Vt. Toledo, Ohio

All volunteers who work regularly with minors in a Hawaii Catholic parish, school or other church setting must submit to criminal background screening by May 1, according to a new policy introduced by Bishop Larry Silva on Dec. 27.

In addition, volunteers must undergo “safe environment” training to learn how to recognize, report and prevent child abuse.

The background screening is self-administered through the on-line program “Shield the Vulnerable” at www.shieldthevulner able.org. The safe environment training is also available at that site or through classes offered annually in each vicariate.

A 2007 audit counted 1,900 volunteers who work with minors in the diocese, said Jayne Mondoy, director of the Office of Religious Education, which helped develop the screening process.

Both the screening and training are required by the U.S. bishops Charter for the Protection of Children and Youth, which was written in 2002 in response to the recent U.S. clergy sex abuse scandal.

The Hawaii policy defines a “regular contact volunteer” as any unpaid person, 18 or older, “who functions in a defined role within a diocesan agency, parish or school and who is placed in a position of authority, trust or supervision of a minor … more than once a year.”

They include catechists, catechist aides, youth ministers and assistants, altar server trainers, classroom helpers, coaches, youth choir directors, scout leaders and chaperones.

Volunteers who work with minors at a single event do not have to be screened, but they do have to read and sign the 11-page diocesan “Volunteer Code of Conduct,” which is provided by the parish or school, prior to the event.

New volunteers must be screened and trained within 60 days of starting.

Both the screening and training take about 90 minutes, said Lisa Gomes, the diocese’s Safe Environment coordinator under the Office of Religious Education.

The screening process

The screening asks questions about a person’s identity and background. The process is secure and private, Mondoy said.

The screening involves a nation-wide search of criminal, court and prison records and sex offender registries. It will also search for previous residence addresses and verify identities through Social Security numbers.

Twelve other U.S. dioceses and archdioceses, including one Episcopal diocese, use the Shield the Vulnerable program to screen their volunteers.

The results are reviewed by Ann Mejia, the diocesan background screening coordinator.

Mejia is a retired Big Island police officer and detective with a background in child and domestic abuse cases whom the diocese has hired to examine the screenings. She is also charged with discussing the results with volunteer’s parish or school and adjudicating the findings if necessary.

Mondoy described Mejia as a “wonderful faith-filled person blessed with years of experience.” She has already served for a while as a consultant and trainer for the diocese’s safe environment program.

Safe environment training

Although the safe environment training is available on the same website, it is separate from the screening, Mondoy said, and coordinated by Gomes of the religious education office.

The training is designed to prevent the on-line user from racing through it without fully reading it, said Gomes. No one can fail the course, she said, but no one can skip through it either.

Mondoy, who helped draft the training questions, tested the training by purposely going through it as quickly as she could. She said the program stopped her, told her she was going to fast and diverted her to a “crossword puzzle” quiz that she had to complete before being allowed to proceed.

Costs

The background screening costs $25 per person. The safe environment training costs $10. Both amounts are charged to the parish or school where the volunteer works.

According to Mondoy, most other background screening services cost in the range of $50 to 60 per person.

With 1,900 volunteers, the total cost of screening and training this year in Hawaii will be $66,500.

Volunteers may only do the screening with their pastors’ approval, Mondoy said.

Volunteers who do not have an Internet-access computer may do the screening at their parish office, she said.

Volunteers must be screened every five years and be retrained annually.

To ensure adherence to Hawaii laws, the diocese will not accept screening results or training certificates from other dioceses or organizations.

Formal screenings had not been done up to now, said Mondoy, because there was no simple, inexpensive and standardized way to do them. Volunteers instead have been required to fill out a paper form that included their Social Security number and other identity information.

A person found to have a record of child or sexual abuse and certain other crimes (see box) will be automatically disqualified from volunteering. Mondoy said that national estimates have found that about 2 percent of those screened have disqualifying records.

Gomes said that more than 5,000 diocesan employees, volunteers and clergy have already taken safe environment training since 2002, mostly through classroom presentations.

In the parishes

Sacred Hearts Father Herman Gomes, pastor of St. Ann Church in Kaneohe, said that his parish and school have about 85 volunteers total who work with children in religious education and as aides at the school and early learning center.

“We are grateful” for all that the volunteers already do, he said, and now they are “being asked to do one thing more.”

But it is necessary for the safety of the children, he said.

St. Elizabeth Parish in Aiea has more than 100 volunteers who work with children, according to the pastor Capuchin Franciscan Father Mike Dalton.

“I am all for safe environments,” he said, while acknowledging that this new requirement is going to be a bit of a challenge. The cost, which will probably exceed $3,500, was not budgeted, he said.

But these are national mandates which cannot be avoided, he added.

Clergy and employees

The new policy also states that “All members of the Clergy” must be screened through Shield the Vulnerable by May 1, but Mondoy said that only refers to priests and deacons “new to the diocese.”

All priests and most deacons now working here have already gone through some kind of screening process, said Father Khanh Hoang, diocesan Vicar for Clergy.

Diocesan employees hired since the ratification of the Charter have been screened through Goodenow Associates, a local detective firm. Hawaii state privacy laws generally prevent the screening of employees already hired, so most diocesan and parish workers employed before 2002 have not been screened.

Catholic schools in Hawaii have long had their own screening process for teachers, administrators and other employees that includes fingerprinting.