德卢斯救世军青年团体的两名前教练在过去 13 个月被指控性侵犯，这种情况让许多当地父母想知道如何最好地保护他们的孩子免受潜在的掠夺者的伤害。
大多数当地青年团体使用犯罪背景调查来筛选在他们的项目中与孩子一起工作的教练、牧师、导师和各种志愿者。然而，正如位于德卢斯的 First Witness Child Advocacy Center 的代表所指出的那样，有时这些背景调查仅涵盖州或当地地区。当然，这不足以检测过去在个人可能生活、工作或旅行的地方发生的所有犯罪行为。
雇主最好使用以国家为重点的犯罪背景调查工具（例如第三方背调公司）来补充传统的地方县搜索。该产品使雇主能够根据从全国各州和地方来源收集的超过 4.5 亿条记录的数据库搜索个人的姓名和出生日期。它还包括检查所有州的罪犯登记处。美国 OneSEARCH 提供了几乎即时的结果，这将帮助青年团体正确审查甚至最后一刻的工作人员。
Voyageurs 地区委员会的侦察执行官兼首席执行官戴维·诺尔 (David Nolle) 表示，在他们犯下任何罪行之前识别潜在的掠食者几乎是不可能的。专家告诉他，虐待儿童者没有可靠的资料。幸运的是，青年团体可以通过采取防止掠食者有机会与孩子单独相处的政策来帮助降低在他们的监视下发生猥亵或虐待儿童事件的风险。例如，德卢斯的 The First Witness Child Advocacy Center 建议所有青年团体采取一项政策，禁止成年人花时间与孩子进行一对一的交流，无论是上班时间还是下班时间。因此，例如，导师不能在私人房间里对孩子进行辅导，也不能事后送孩子回家。
Voyageurs 地区委员会采用了类似的“禁止虐待”政策，防止成年人与青少年单独相处。Nolle 还说，他所在组织的青年团体中的孩子被教导要注意施虐者并使用三个 R 保护自己：认识到任何成年人都可能成为施虐者，抵制任何不适当的进步，并向另一个成年人报告虐待行为。
进行背景调查只是青年组织对其服务的当地社区的责任的一部分。它可以防止他们无意中将孩子暴露给已知的虐待儿童者或由于过去的犯罪行为（例如暴力犯罪或与毒品有关的犯罪）而不适合与未成年人一起工作的人。然而，没有背景调查可以预测未来，尤其是当个人之前没有犯罪活动史时。这就是需要明智的政策和教育的时候。
Two former coaches of Duluth Salvation Army youth groups have been charged with sexual assault in the past 13 months, a situation which has left many local parents wondering how to best protect their kids from potential predators.
Most local youth groups use criminal background checks to screen coaches, pastors, mentors, and various volunteers who work with kids in their programs. However, as a representative of the First Witness Child Advocacy Center in Duluth points out, sometimes these background checks only cover the state or local areas. Naturally this is not sufficient to detect all criminal behavior that took place in the past in places where the individual might have lived, worked or travelled.
Employers would do better to supplement traditional local county searches with a nationally focused criminal background check tool such as the US OneSEARCH from backgroundchecks.com. This product enables employers to search an individual’s name and date of birth against a database of over 450 million records collected from state and local sources around the country. It also includes a check of the offender registries in all states. The US OneSEARCH delivers almost instant results, which would help youth groups properly vet even last-minute staff.
Identifying potential predators before they commit any crimes is virtually impossible, according to David Nolle, Scout Executive and CEO of the Voyageurs Area Council. Experts have advised him that there is no reliable profile for a child abuser. Fortunately, youth groups can help reduce the risk of an incident of child molestation or abuse occurring on their watch by adopting policies that will prevent predators from having any opportunities to be alone with kids. For example, The First Witness Child Advocacy Center in Duluth recommends that all youth groups adopt a policy forbidding adults from spending time one-on-one with kids, on or off the clock. So, for example, a mentor could not have a tutoring session with a child in a private room or give that child a ride home afterwards.
The Voyageurs Area Council employs a similar “barriers to abuse” policy which prevents an adult from soloing with youth. Nolle also said that kids in his organization’s youth groups are taught to watch out for abusers and protect themselves using the three R’s: recognize that any adult could be an abuser, resist any inappropriate advances, and report abuse to another adult.
Running a background check is just part of a youth organization’s responsibility to the local community that they serve. It prevents them from unwittingly exposing kids to a known child abuser or person unsuitable to work with minors due to past criminal behavior such as violent crimesor drug related offenses. However, no background check can predict the future, especially when individuals have no prior history of criminal activity. That’s when smart policies and education are needed.
