Everyone desiring to work with children or students at Willow Creek, whether paid staff or volunteer, goes through the Protection process. Our program has four components: screening, training, supervision and reporting.
Screening
Protection screening includes one or more of the following: application, reference checks, personal interview and background check. Not all serving positions require all of the above screening steps. Your ministry contact will know which steps need to be taken to protect you and the minors you will be working with.
- Application:Designed to begin to get to know you better. Choose either a one-time serving application or and on-going serving application.
- Reference Checks:Conducted so we can hear from the people who you’ve said know you best.
- Personal Interview:Held to ensure the right serving position for your experiences, gifts and passions.
- Background Check:
Requested for:
- all staff who work around minors
- volunteer positions involving specific situations
- special circumstances
Our online training course is for all people who serve around minors on a regular basis. The purpose of this course is to raise awareness of child abuse issues and to cover things to do and not do during ministry work.
This occurs during the time that your ministry is doing what it is called to do. Supervision is done primarily by staff and coaches in the area, but we all have a role in keeping one another accountable. The goal is to ensure that the interactions taking place between leaders, adults and minors are appropriate and above reproach. Supervision takes place for the protection of the children and students, as well as for the leaders and adults.
Our governing principle is that we know it is in God’s heart and will to care for and protect children and students (Matthew 18:1-10). Therefore, all persons, in the course of their employment or ministry efforts, have a responsibility to report any actual or suspected abuse or neglect, past or present, anywhere in the child or student’s life including church, home, school, the park or community. After careful investigation by highly trained staff, we report to the state authorities any cases of suspected child abuse toward a minor.
