Protection of Minors

Representatives of the South Central Regional Training Institute Board recently joined a call with other Training Institutes boards across the country, discussing the challenges we all face with ensuring follow-through on critical steps for protection of minors participating in Bahá’í-sponsored activities. Per the policy of the National Spiritual Assembly, the Regional Training Institute is responsible for overseeing implementation of its policies in the context of neighborhood study circles, junior youth groups, and children’s classes. A few key take-aways from that call:

• The RTI Board needs to continue educating all of the friends in the region about these policies.
• Too many volunteers do not complete the process by responding to the e-mail from TheAdvocates@VerifiedVolunteers.com.
• Completing the background check process is critical; studying and embracing the policies is no less critical.
• Activities that do not have two cleared facilitators should be halted until a second person can be present.
• We can and should use SRP data to cross-check that everyone who needs clearance is going through the process.

For more details on the clearance / background check process, please see Working with Minors.