Frequently Asked Questions Regarding Safe Environment
1. Question: What is the required ratio of adults to minors?
Answer: A minimum of one adult for every seven minors. Please also remember to have adult chaperones who are the same sex as the participants.
2. Question: I understand that a background check must be done for people who have regular contact with children. Can you please define “regular contact?” For example, does it include a volunteer who is only going to chaperone a 2 hour event or trip?
Answer: Anyone that has regular and/or one on one contact with children, such as DRE's, CRE's, Youth Ministers, etc., needs to have a background check and the results kept on file with the Parish and Diocese. This is necessary as a deterrent and to prevent unqualified people from participating in the religious education of our children and young adults. For example, a person helping out with a spaghetti dinner would not be considered as having regular or one on one contact with children. However, an adult who is playing the part of the Easter Bunny for an Easter party would need to have a Criminal Background Check as they would have one on one contact with children.
3. Question: Once a background check has been completed on a staff person or volunteer, do they ever have to be checked again?
Answer: Yes. Once a background check has been completed the employee or volunteer will complete the Confidential Questionnaire annually. In addition, every three years, the employee or volunteer will be subject to a Criminal Background Check.
4. Question: If I am taking teens on a trip such as a mission trip, where groups sleep in school classrooms (females in one classroom and males in another) do adults sleep in the same classroom as the minors?
Answer: Yes. No less than two chaperones of the same gender are to sleep in the same classroom as the teens.
5. Question: We have a parent going with their child on a trip, can they share a hotel room? What about if the child has a friend of the same gender with them?
Answer: There is no problem with related family members sharing a room. However, the child's friend, of the same gender can only share a room with their friend's parent if that parent is of the same gender.
6. Question: There are several high school students who are 18 years old going with us on a trip. Do they share a room with their younger classmates? Do they need to have a Criminal Background Check completed?
Answer: The 18 year olds who are still in high school can share a room with their younger classmates. The 18 year olds will only need to complete a Criminal Background Check if they have graduated from high school.
7. Question: There are times when a young person needs to talk with someone privately. Can I talk with them in my office with the door shut?
Answer: No. Any one-on-one counseling, tutoring, training or assistance with a minor must be conducted in an open room setting without closed doors, except for a door with a window, and only if readily observable by others who may be in the room or in the hallway outside the room.