Carla, our assistant Rector before being called to her own church, worked extensively with our youth.  She wrote several essays on safe care of our youth; the essays are still applicable and thus they remain, with many thanks to Carla for her work while with us.

Our youth policy covers all areas in our church that include all children and youth. In writing our policy we set up definitions so that we can all be specific in understanding our definition of children, youth, young adult and adult.

Children are persons under the age of thirteen OR not yet in the sixth grade.

Youth are persons under the age of eighteen OR still attending high school.

A young adult is a person between the ages of eighteen and twenty-three who has graduated from high school.

An adult is a person at least twenty-four years old.

These are the four terms used throughout the policy. We've worked hard to be clear and specific on directions. The policy will be reviewed and updated on an annual basis by the youth, the youth leaders and the S.P.Y. ministry team.

Paid and volunteer youth leaders, Sunday school teachers, nursery workers, etc. will be evaluated and monitored. We have specific steps that as a parish we must complete for each person (adult and young adult) who work with children and youth. Our youth who work with our children must also be evaluated and monitored.

Each of these persons must fill out a Youth Ministries Questionnaire and interview with the staff person (currently the Assistant Rector) in charge of our nursery, children and youth. It is also required that they attend the Safeguarding God's Children training. Adults and young adults must attend this training every five years. Teens must attend every three years.

Each adult and teen working with youth and children sign a covenant as leaders that they will follow our policy and all of its guidelines.

All persons who want to work with our children and youth must have been active, attending members of St. Paul's for at least one year. Back ground checks and DMV checks must be done for each person (paid and volunteer) who works with our children and youth.

In all classes and at all events with youth/children we will follow the "Rule of Two" and "Open Door" rules. "Rule of Two" means two adults at all times with children/youth. "Open Door" means that all doors are open so that parents and church members may visit classrooms at any time.

The evaluations and monitoring is to keep our children and youth safe as they are God's greatest gifts to us.

There's a New Sheriff in town….

Well, there isn't really a new sheriff in town, but we do have a new policy that will help St. Paul's keep our children and youth safe.

All dioceses and individual churches have been strongly encouraged by the National Church and Church Insurance to put into place a policy that will provide for the safeguarding of children and youth. Our diocese has had such a policy in place for a while now. The bishop has asked each church to establish a parish policy and have the terms of the policy in action by January 01, 2006.

A team went to work after our last diocesan council to begin to write our St. Paul's "Healthy and Wholesome Youth Policy." The team reviewed the youth policy of our diocese and policies of other churches to get a better idea of how thorough and clear we wanted the policy to read. After months of preparation, the policy was given to the vestry for approval. The vestry approved the policy on September 22, 2005.

We have already begun to take the steps that our new policy says will be in effect beginning January 01, 2006. The first step has been to try and have two Sunday school teachers in every children and youth Sunday school classroom. The second step was to have all teen nursery ministry volunteers to be trained with the Safeguarding God's Children training from the National Church. More opportunity for the training will be offered in the near future so more adults, parents and teens can participate.

In Carla's Corner for the next few weeks, I will be explaining the different sections of our policy. A full copy of our policy may be picked up in the church office.

Continuing explanations about St. Paul's "Healthy and Wholesome Youth Policy", under "Transportation of Youth". Only adults (24 and older) can drive our youth and they must give permission for a DMV background check. We will be following the policy of having two or more adults present and drivers must require all passengers to wear seat belts. All accidents, no matter how minor, must be documented.

Under "Safe Environments: Private Space", we will also follow the policy of two adults being present as well as the "Open Door Policy" (no two people may be unobservable at any time.) All adults and young adults working with our youth must monitor and ensure that appropriate body contact is maintained at all times. Information concerning consideration for those with special needs or disabilities is also included in the policy.

Under "Safe Environments: Medical Concerns", adults are required to have copies of medical forms before the youth are allowed to participate in an outing, and to read the youth medical forms, being mindful of allergies, medical conditions and medications. All medications (prescriptions and over the counter medications) will be distributed by adults and recorded in the medical log. Any accidents or questionable behavior must be recorded in the Parish Log Book, which is kept in a locked space to keep information secure and confidential. All adults should preplan for and access any potential hazards for an event, reviewing fire escape plans, emergency plans, etc. Adults should also be knowledgeable about their individual insurance coverage of them while working with youth. The community standards of our policy will be reviewed each year and opportunities for education and workshops will be ongoing.

A full copy of the Policy is available in the office. In accordance with the Diocesan Healthy and Wholesome Youth Ministries Policy, we at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Salem, Virginia have created and established this Healthy and Wholesome Youth Ministries Policy of Procedures for monitoring adults and young adults who work with our youth and children.

Our children are God's precious gift to us, and together we will keep them safe.