Anyone over the age of 18 directly serving minors in activities specifically for the education of minors sponsored by Bahá’í institutions is required to complete a background check and, if they are driving minors as part of that service, then an motor vehicle records check (MVR) prior to serving. People serving in the following roles need to be cleared:

• Regional and cluster institute coordinators
• Children’s Class teachers and assistants
• Junior Youth Group animators and assistants
• Youth Service Training program facilitators
• Individuals in a formal period of institute service
• Hosts for classes, groups, and overnight hospitality
• Drivers or chaperones when asked to perform that duty by an organizer (or sponsoring institution) of an activity

Roles that may also need to be cleared if they are serving activities specifically for minors:

• Tutors of youth study circles (if minors are involved)
• Cluster Development facilitators
• Area Teaching Committee secretaries
• Homefront pioneers, when planning to raise up activities for children and youth

At this time, we do not clear minors in Sterling Volunteers. So, we follow this process for clearing minors: first check UnityWeb, if they are a Bahá’í, to ensure they have their full rights. Next, check https://www.nsopw.gov/, using the individual’s full name to make sure they are not a registered sex offender. And, lastly, do a quick internet search using their full name to see if any news articles appear that indicate criminal behavior. If nothing shows up in any of these places, they are clear to serve. Regions will need to track these individuals clearances outside of Sterling. When a youth turns 18 years old, they will need to have a background check.

(This question presumes that the class or group only meets in the home with the participation of an ‘eligible’ teacher or animator, and that the host does not participate in the class.) Yes, the host would need to complete a criminal background check if they are home during the class since they would be seen as a trusted adult by the children attending.

Yes.

Any adult working with minors needs a background check. So, if there are youth under the age of 18 in the study circle, then yes. If the facilitator is a minor, then a Bahá’í status check should be done on them as well as a search in the sex offender database(s).

Participants do not need to be cleared. However, it is important to mention to those going through those books that if they are going to serve as children class teachers, assistants or animators then they should be prepared to complete a criminal background check prior to starting that service. They also need to have read and understand the requirements of the Policy for the Protection of Children, Junior Youth, and Youth.

No, not at this time.

Yes, There needs to be 2 cleared volunteer drivers need to complete a criminal background check and a Motor Vehicle Record check. There needs to be 2 cleared adults in the vehicle with the minors.

The guiding principle is that background checks are needed for all volunteers serving with minors in a Bahá’í-sponsored activity or at the request of an institution or agency of the Faith must complete a background check to be eligible for service. If an LSA, coordinator, or teacher/animator arranges rides, the drivers need background and MVR checks. Parents who make their own driving arrangements do not need to be screened.

Similar to the previous questions, if an Assembly asks individuals to care for children at Feast then background checks should be completed. If the host or the parents attending Feast self-organize the child care arrangements, then background checks are not required.

Yes, we need them to complete a check through Sterling Volunteers, because we need to ensure that everyone serving with minors on our behalf is cleared the same way.

Yes, but they must also go through a background check prior to serving using the manual process through Sterling Volunteers.

The National Assembly’s direction to implement criminal background checks is to ensure that the Bahá’í community is exercising due diligence in the protection of young people in Bahá’í-sponsored activities. All who wish to serve with children, junior youth, and youth in Bahá’í-sponsored activities must complete a Sterling Volunteers background check. Anyone who is unwilling to complete this process for whatever reason is welcome to serve in other ways that don’t involve young people.

Yes, a background check can be done through the manual process, but this should be used in very rare occasions because it can be less thorough.

There is a manual process for this in Sterling Volunteers (they can also “borrow” someone else’s email address), but you would need to make sure that the individuals receive and approve the consents and that any personal information received by you is responsibly protected and stored for the required amount of time.

At this time, every volunteer’s eligibility needs to be renewed every two years from the adjudication date of their previous background check.

There is no expiration date on links or invitation emails even though it asks for the volunteer to take action within 72 hours of receiving the email. The link remains active until the individual clicks on it and sets up their user name and password in Sterling Volunteers. Only then will the link not work. The volunteer will need to write down the password they entered.