Background    
Child abuse affects the lives of thousands of children every year in the United States.  Churches have long been seen as organizations which are lax or negligent in the screening, education, and training of their children’s and youth workers.  The result has been embarrassing false accusations or missed opportunities to protect a child in need.   We desire to respond in earnest to make our facilities and programming a safe place for all children, youth, and volunteer workers.  Through increased awareness and supervision, we hope to prevent any incidents from occurring, and hence support effective, caring ministries which continue to further the cause of Christ and lead individuals to a personal relationship with Him.

In order to do this, we have established the following guidelines to protect all parties involved:  

• Awareness training is required for all our volunteers who serve in any of our preschool, children, or youth positions. 

• All volunteers sign an affirmation statement attesting that they have not been the subject of a complaint, investigation, or action involving a reported instance of abuse. 

• New volunteers also undergo a screening process, which includes a background check. 

• A team of at least two volunteers must be present with children or youth at any Hayes Barton Baptist function.   A team consists of one certified adult aged twenty-one or over and a certified assistant aged eighteen or over. 

• Our volunteers are asked to avoid providing transportation for an individual child or youth without written permission of a parent, except in the event of an emergency. 

• Volunteers with our youth and children must be a member of HBBC or a Sunday School class for six months.  

For more information, including how to report an allegation of abuse, copies of the entire Children and Youth Protection Policy are available from the church office.