 child protection child protection behind the scenes this is a thread to share resources reflections challenges and ideas about child protection talia tue 8062019 822 criminal background checks volunteers by peter whitley on wed 8212019 2142 in the united states as i understand it it is common to have anyone in an organization that is in direct contact with children to be screened for history of certain kinds of criminal activity particularly involving children violence and so on this process is known in the us as a criminalbackground check the criminal background checks are done by professional services i think that it s almost all done online but sometimes there is fingerprinting and that obviously needs to be done in person the services look through various databases in search of matches to your volunteer or employee s information to flag specific types of criminal history the organization generally pays for this service the us is a litigious place and the common practice for larger organizations and companies to be riskaverse sometimes to a seemingly ridiculous degree i d be interested in hearing to what degree organizations use a practice like this and what factors compel them to do so background checks by talia on thu 8222019 1305 hi pete thanks for sharing about that skateistan has been working this year to introduce background checks at all its locations no small feat with a staff base from over 10 countries it seems easy enough to do in cambodia sa and germany via the police in afghanistan the process is less clear there s also the factor of how long someone should have lived in a place for the police check from that place to be recognized by an organization for example if someone from new york moves to berlin for a job at skateistan do we request a ny background check or a berlin one food for thought another consideration is that if someone has been convicted of an unrelated crime such as shoplifting a dui vandalism or a crime committed as a juvenile should that prevent them from being considered for the job i think the main purpose of protecting children should always be kept in mind when making these calls talia coping with perverts article from bigfoot skateboard mag by talia on thu 9192019 1349 this article just came out yesterday but it is long overdue words by alex white wonderful human and kristin ebeling skate like a girl also wonderful practical tips on how we as a community can stop sexual abuse and harassment and protect young people in skateboarding  https bigfootskatemagcom copingwithperverts    