Protecting God’s Children™
Information for Volunteers Serving the Youth of Gesu Parish
2011 – 2012
In 2004 the Diocese of Cleveland began implementing Protecting God’s Children™, also known as Virtus, a program aimed at the prevention of child sexual abuse. This program seeks to safeguard our children by educating school and parish staff, volunteers, and parents about ways to prevent sexual abuse, methods of properly reporting suspicions of abuse, and the proper way to respond to allegations of abuse.
In order to do all we can to keep children safe Gesu Parish and School complies with the requirements of the Virtus Program.
Thank you for your generous service to the families of Gesu.
The Gesu Parish Staff
For the purposes of Protecting God’s Children, a volunteer is anyone who interacts with youth more than once a month and/or more than four hours a month.
- Examples include (but are not limited to): Cafeteria Aides, Playground Monitors, those who routinely assist in the Library, Art Room or Technology Lab, Coaches, Team Managers, Scout leaders, Children’s Liturgy volunteers, Bookstore volunteers, Great Books leaders, Club moderators.
| Volunteer Requirements The following information must be submitted to and approved by the Gesu Parish Business Manager or Gesu Principal before an individual can be allowed to serve in parish/school activities involving minors: |
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| 1. | Volunteer Application Form. Submit completed application to parish business manager, athletic director, or principal. |
| 2. | Personal References – All volunteers must provide contact information for 3 personal references on the Volunteer Application. The parish will contact your references. |
| 3. |
Virtus Training Certification – verification of your attendance is sent directly to Gesu after you have completed this three hour training. For information about where Virtus training sessions will be held and to register, click here. Once you have completed the Virtus Training, you will receive periodic email lessons which you will need to read. These are very brief articles which require answering only one question. A record of your ongoing progess will be kept with your files. |
| 4. | Contact Information for fingerprints: Brian Hurd – Assistant Director, Campus Safety Services at John Carroll University. Contact information: bhurd@jcu.eduPhone: 397-3083Criminal Background Check Results - See below for more information. |
| 5. | Acknowledgement Forms – Return forms to parish business manager, athletic director, or principal to acknowledge that you have read the three required policy booklets.
Diocese of Cleveland Gesu Parish Diocese of Cleveland |
Frequently Asked Questions
What is involved in a Criminal Background Check?
Fingerprints are taken and run through the database maintained by the State of Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification & Investigation (BCI&I). The subject’s identity is verified and a report is generated that lists any current warrants and any previous convictions. For volunteers who have been residents of Ohio for less than 5 years, fingerprints will be submitted to the FBI and a national background check will be run.
How do I know if I need to be fingerprinted?
If you are involved in a school- or parish-sponsored activity in which you are (or reasonably could be) the only adult present with any children other than your own, you will need to submit fingerprints for a background check.
How do I get fingerprinted?
To make this as easy as possible for our many generous volunteers, we have arranged for several fingerprinting sessions to be held in conjunction with John Carroll University. There will be no charge to the volunteers for fingerprinting done at Gesu. Be sure to bring your driver’s license or photo ID with you to the fingerprinting session and your Social Security number. See contact information above.
Who will see the results of BCI&I background checks?
All volunteer information will be held in the strictest confidence. Results will be reviewed by Gesu Business Manager, Gesu Principal, and th Gesu Pastor. Any information that causes concern will be reviewed the Gesu Pastor.
What type of criminal background would disqualify a volunteer?
Any conviction for a sex offense, a crime involving children, or moral corruption would make a volunteer ineligible to serve in any situation involving minors.
Where can I attend a Virtus training session?
Use the links listed above to find out where upcoming sessions will be held. You can also register online for this training.
Thank you again for your cooperation with these requirements. We hope that it assures you of the fact that we are acting on behalf of each child’s safety in these very serious matters.
