Best Practice Guidelines for Screening Volunteers:

Finding the Right Match

As the national leader and voice for volunteerism in the country, Volunteer Canada is proud to be the sole contributor approached by Public Safety Canada to create this product.

Best Practice Guidelines for Screening Volunteers: Finding the Right Match is a compilation of Volunteer Canada's main screening resources.

What is screening?

Screening is a process designed to create and maintain a safe environment. This process involves identifying any activity of a volunteer position which by virtue of the responsibilities of the position could bring about harm to children, youth, or vulnerable persons. The screening process also ensures the most appropriate match is made between volunteer and task. Screening involves recruiting, selecting, and managing volunteers.

Screening is a poorly understood and relatively new concept in many organizations. This is particularly true in organizations that are predominantly volunteer-driven and magnified in organizations that utilize a large number of parent volunteers and work with hundreds of thousands of children. The recreation community fits this description..

Why screen?

The answer is simple. We want to do a better job of assigning volunteers and protecting them and program participants. All organizations that provide programs to vulnerable people, whether run by staff or volunteers, have a responsibility to appropriately screen their volunteers. This responsibility is moral, legal, and spiritual; it is not only the right thing to do but it is legally required under the "Duty of Care" concept.

"Duty of Care" is the legal principle that identifies the obligations of individuals and organizations to take reasonable measures to care for and protect their participants. Groups need to understand that Canadian courts will uphold their responsibilities with regard to screening in the context of their "Duty of Care".

While many organizations accept their responsibility to protect the vulnerable participants in their programs, they can feel overwhelmed by the need to screen every one of their volunteers.

Screening Does Not Equal Police Records Checks

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Police records checks create a false sense of security and creating an abusers' registry is a very bad idea. These are two of the messages which were communicated during the launch of Phase III of the National Education Campaign (NEC) on Screening. As stated by Paddy Bowen, Executive Director of Volunteer Canada, at the 1997 Canadian Forum on Volunteerism, "We can't allow ourselves to think that by looking up a name on a list that kids, seniors, disabled people and patients will be suddenly safe. We have to be very vigilant."

The federal government announced the extension of the NEC on Screening at the 1997 Canadian Forum on Volunteerism in Winnipeg. The two year extension is funded by the departments of the Solicitor General, Justice, Health and Canadian Heritage.

John Harvard, MP for Charleswood-Assiniboine on behalf of Federal Solicitor General Andy Scott announced the extension of the NEC on Screening and stated, "It is important that governments, the voluntary sector, police and communities continue to work together to raise awareness about the need for sound screening practices. Protecting children and stopping child abuse is everybody's responsibility. We must continue to send the message that abuse of our children will not be tolerated."

Phase III is a three-pronged initiative focusing on training of people to screen volunteers in sports and recreation, education and religious communities; a public education campaign; and an awareness program involving police. The training will focus on sport, education and religious groups because they all share some important traits: They use known volunteers; they work with middle-class, mainstream kids; they're tight communities; and they're in a severe state of denial when it comes to screening.

There are two key messages that the NEC on Screening must communicate in the next two years; police record checks are not the simple answer that everyone thinks they are and it is not a violation of trust to ask volunteers to participate in a screening process.

No matter how much work and resources are involved it is crucial to educate and act on screening now.

Screening - Dispelling the Myths

The media has perpetuated the belief that child sexual abuse is the only risk organizations face. This narrow focus can lead organizations to neglect other possible harm to the communities they serve. A screening policy should be a safeguard from all possible risks.

Here are a few examples of situations that actually happened along with some suggestions on how they might have been avoided.

A volunteer treasurer in Edmonton stole more than $57,000 from the community league. She stole the money to support a gambling addiction. She had a previous conviction for stealing $25,000 from another community league. Many organizations only consider conducting police records checks on volunteers who are put in one-on-one relationships with vulnerable clients. It is absolutely necessary to think about your clients' safety but you must also consider the "health" of your organization. A police records check or a policy of two-signatures on cheques might have prevented this incident from happening.

Religious scams are also very popular. Some volunteers seek positions working with the elderly to either convert them or to convince them that contributions to a particular organization will guarantee their entrance into heaven. These elderly victims often believe that this is what they have to do to be saved. Volunteer orientation sessions outlining exactly what volunteers are, and are not allowed to do, can go a long way in preventing this type of situation. Advising potential volunteers that there will be random spot checks for those who work one-on-one with clients may also discourage inappropriate behaviour.

Would you have suspected a provincial police officer, a school bus driver, a church camp counsellor to abuse his position of trust? Gary Blair Walker held all of these positions and more during the 33 years that he abused over 150 boys in his care. In 1994, he was convicted to an indefinite prison term for sexual assault. Organizations must decide what screening measures they will employ based on the level of risk in the position. Given the previous example, it is obvious that screening must be applied consistently regardless of the applicant's background.

Risks come in all faces, shapes, and sizes. Organizations need to adequately determine all the possible risks for the well being of their clients as well as the health of their own organizations. Volunteer Canada is committed to safeguarding the community against these incidences.

Background

The 10 steps of Screening

Q & A

Laws and screening

Ontario Screening Initiative

The Reading Room

Workbooks and Resources