There was a recent church abuse report from a church “Couple” that together befriended, lured and molested a student that they had met at church and through church camp.  This was  a couple in their young 20’s looking for a child to prey upon.  They found that child at small church.  Read it at http://www2.dothaneagle.com/news/2011/mar/20/marianna-church-couple-arrested-ar-1601685/ 

Read this definition of grooming as taken from Wikipedia:

Child grooming refers to actions deliberately undertaken with the aim of befriending and establishing an emotional connection with a child, in order to lower the child’s inhibitions in preparation for sexual activity with the child, or exploitation.  Child grooming may be used to lure minors into illicit businesses such as child prostitution or the production of child pornography.^[1][2][3]

Although worldwide case law has an inherently heterogeneous history of offenders, generally child sexual abuse occurs at the hands of someone personally close and well known to that child. Thus, abuse is usually preceded by grooming.^[4]

Child grooming involves psychological manipulation in the form of positive reinforcement and foot-in-the-door tactics, using activities that are typically legal but later lead to illegal activities. This is done to gain the child’s trust as well as the trust of those responsible for the child’s well-being. Additionally, a trusting relationship with the family means the child’s parents are less likely to believe potential accusations.^[5]

In the case of sexual grooming, child pornography images are often shown to the child as part of the grooming process.^[1][2][3]

To establish a good relationship with the child and the child’s family, child groomers might do several things. For example, they might take an undue interest in someone else’s child, to be the child’s “special” friend to gain the child’s trust. They might give gifts or money to the child for no apparent reason (toys, dolls, etc.). They may show pornography—videos or pictures—to the child, hoping to make it easy for the child to accept such acts, thus normalizing the behavior. They may simply talk about sexual topics. These are just some of the methods a child groomer might use to gain a child’s trust and affection in order to allow them to do what they want. Hugging and kissing or other physical contact, even when the child does not want it, can happen. To the groomer, this is a way to get close. They might talk about problems normally discussed between adults, or at least people of the same age. Topics might include marital problems and other conflicts. They may try to gain the child’s parents’ trust by befriending them, with the goal of easy access to the child. The child groomer might look for opportunities to have time alone with the child. This can be done by offering to babysit. The groomer may invite the child for sleepovers. This gives them the opportunity to sleep in the same room or even the same bed with the child.

Actions such as online communication have been defended by suspected offenders using the so-called ‘fantasy defense’, in which those accused argue that they were only expressing fantasies and not plans of future behavior. In the U.S., case law draws a distinction between those two and some people accused of ‘grooming’ have successfully used this defense.^[4]

If you are a church or volunteer at a church and want to implement a child safety system then you might find information available at www.protectmyministry.com – they have solutions that can help.

At Protect My Ministry we work with over 5,000 churches in all 50 states to provide background checks as well as child protection policies and procedures. And while background checks are a vital piece of your child protection policy, it cannot be the only safeguard the church has in place. More and more churches are upgrading their policies to include additional safeguards:

• Written policies with signed agreements from all volunteers
• Camera systems/video monitoring
• Sophisticated check-in systems
• Two-person rule for all classroom settings
• Child Safety Training

The value of these and especially the Child Safety training cannot be overstated. In fact, 90% of those that commit crimes in the church do not have a criminal history so the background checks are limited in preventing predators from making it through the front door. Take the following case as an example:

Upon investigating the home of Joseph Emil Klug in September of 2009, FBI agents found the equivalent of a truckload of child pornography. Klug volunteered for the Royal Rangers program, a church ministry for boys, and frequently had access to camping trips and other overnight activites. During those activities Klug would secretly film boys in his group showering and going to the bathroom. Klug had no prior criminal records that would have indicated he was a sexual predator.

A final report concluded that Klug had collected about 59,000 images and 12,000 videos of minors engaging in sex. Some of those images contained sexual assaults involving infants and prepubescent children, bondage, and bestiality. Klug had also falsely portrayed himself as a father of a boy in online chat rooms and provided advice on how to groom and assault children while avoiding getting caught.

And that is the key. There is a method and a process that predators follow in order to gain access to vulnerable persons and build a relationship with those they intend to abuse. Protect My Ministry offers a child safety training  program to help churches put safeguards in place and teach other volunteers how to spot signs of grooming and other red flags. This can help stop an abuser before they ever gain the trust of other parents and volunteers and help make your church a safe place.

For more information about Protect My Ministry’s child safety training click here.

Go to www.protectmyministry.com for more information about volunteer background checks.

Fact vs. Myth part 2
Common mistakes churches make regarding their volunteer background checks

Protect My Ministry currently serves over 5,000 different faith-based organizations in all 50 states, so we see a lot of situations and run into questions about these issues on a regular basis. So this month we will continue our investigation into more common mistakes or misconceptions many churches have regarding background checks:

Myth # 3 – “I am running a national search, so I am getting everything from every state.”

Fact – There is not a national database that comprehensively covers all 50 states criminal information. One of the reasons Protect My Ministry created an online consultation is because the type of information we get from the national database varies from state to state. Some states, like North Carolina and Texas, update their information regularly and include details on felonies, misdemeanors, convictions, and non-convictions. Other states, like Georgia and Alabama, only report felony convictions. So the type of search you run really varies depending on how much information you are looking for and how well your state reports.

Myth # 4 – “It’s not in the budget right now; we’ll just use people we know.”

Fact – You really cannot afford not to screen your volunteers. Within this objection are really two problems. First there is the assumption that you actually do know everyone in your congregation. No matter the size, one could question how well you know each person that comes through your doors. I know of a case where there was a check run on an assistant pastor who had just graduated from Bible College. After investigation it was discovered that while he was in college he had two felony arrests for spouse abuse and child abuse, as well as a restraining order against him. Sometimes you just never know. The other problem with this line of thinking is the court and legal cost the church could face if there is an allegation and there is not a child safety policy in place that includes background screening of volunteers. I have heard on several occasions that the cost to defend a church against a frivolous child molestation lawsuit can be $80,000-$100,000! And that’s just to prove that nothing happened! Background checks are cheap insurance compared to that.

For more information go to www.protectmyministry.com

Protect My Ministry currently serves over 5,000 different faith-based organizations in all 50 states, so we see a lot of situations and run into questions about these issues on a regular basis. So this month we will continue our investigation into more common mistakes or misconceptions many churches have regarding background checks:

Myth # 3 – “I am running a national search, so I am getting everything from every state.”

Fact – There is not a national database that comprehensively covers all 50 states criminal information. One of the reasons Protect My Ministry created an online consultation is because the type of information we get from the national database varies from state to state. Some states, like North Carolina and Texas, update their information regularly and include details on felonies, misdemeanors, convictions, and non-convictions. Other states, like Georgia and Alabama, only report felony convictions. So the type of search you run really varies depending on how much information you are looking for and how well your state reports.

Myth # 4 – “It’s not in the budget right now; we’ll just use people we know.”

Fact – You really cannot afford not to screen your volunteers. Within this objection are really two problems. First there is the assumption that you actually do know everyone in your congregation. No matter the size, one could question how well you know each person that comes through your doors. I know of a case where there was a check run on an assistant pastor who had just graduated from Bible College. After investigation it was discovered that while he was in college he had two felony arrests for spouse abuse and child abuse, as well as a restraining order against him. Sometimes you just never know. The other problem with this line of thinking is the court and legal cost the church could face if there is an allegation and there is not a child safety policy in place that includes background screening of volunteers. I have heard on several occasions that the cost to defend a church against a frivolous child molestation lawsuit can be $80,000-$100,000! And that’s just to prove that nothing happened! Background checks are cheap insurance compared to that.

For more information go to www.protectmyministry.com

Free Information From Protect My Ministry on church background checks, child safety training, and ministry automation is available at our website ProtectMyMinistry.com

Top mistakes churches make regarding their volunteer background checks-

Protect My Ministry reaches out to hundreds of churches every week and in that process we hear stories from churches of every denomination, tradition, and philosophy. The most common truth about volunteer background screening we encounter is this: churches often do not know exactly what they are getting when they do a background check on their volunteers.

Over the next few months, Protect My Ministry will take time to reveal several misconceptions churches have about background checks and what we do to address these issues. Here are a few of the most common myths regarding background checks followed by the facts:

Myth # 1 – “Background checks are all the same, so why does it matter who we use?”

Fact – There are several ways to do background checks and there are hundreds of background screening companies out there for a reason; and they are not all created equally. Here are a few questions you should be asking: Am I getting felony as well as misdemeanors or just felonies? What exactly is being searched for when I run this background check? Doesn’t a national search mean I am getting all 50 states? The answers to these questions are extremely important as you develop your child safety procedures.

Myth #2 – “I am getting my checks for free from the police station (or a member of our church is a police officer and runs them for us), so I’m covered.”

Fact – While the price may be right, chances are you don’t realize what is being checked and what is not. Most people just assume everything is. The truth is many police checks are checking only the state you are in and does not include criminal information outside of your state. The only exception to that is if they are checking the NCIC (the FBI database) and if you are getting that for free the person doing that for you is almost certainly doing it illegally.

For more information please visit www.protectmyministry.com

For some of our recommendations on how to screen volunteers, click here.