Policy Title: Child Protective Services Law (CPSL) Policy

Revision Number 1

Authority: Mt. Pleasant Church PRC / Governance Board

  1. PURPOSE: It is the policy of the Mt. Pleasant Church to ensure that all Full time, and Part time Church employees, as well as all Church Volunteers, are in compliance with the Pennsylvania Child Protective Services Law (CPSL)

This policy is to provide standards to ensure initial and renewal background checks are being adhered to.

  1. SCOPE: This policy applies to all Full time / Salaried and Part Time Mt. Pleasant Church Employees as well as all Church volunteers.
  1. PROCEDURES

a.Under the Pennsylvania Child Protective Services Law (CPSL), it is necessary to define which Mt. Pleasant employees/positions, whether full time or part time, within the Churches operations, fall under the new provisions of the law, requiring

clearances/certifications, which monitor for specific criminal matters and child abuse findings, and education.

b.As is applicable for the Church, this law applies to an individual14 years of age or older applying for a position as a new employee, all existing employee, or volunteers, 18 years of age or older, responsible for a child’s welfare or having direct contact with children through a program, activity or service.

c.As the term is used in this document “Staff Members” references employees or

volunteers acting on behalf of the Church through employment, internship, volunteers, or similar persons.

  1. LEGAL REQUIREMENTS & DEFINITIONS
  1. Person responsible for the child’s welfare – A person who provides permanent ortemporary care, supervision, mental health diagnosis or treatment, training, or controlof a child in lieu of parental care, supervision and control.
  1. Program, activity or service – Any of the following in which children participate and which is sponsored by the Church:

(1) A youth camp orprogram.(Vacation Bible School)

(2) A recreational camp or program. (Creation)

(3) A sports or athletic program.

(4) Acommunity or social outreach program.

(5) An enrichment or educational program.

(6) Atroop, club, or similar organization.

  1. Anyone having direct contact with children – The care, supervision, guidance or control of children orroutine interaction with children.
  1. Direct Volunteer Contact – The care, supervision, guidance or control of children androutine interaction with children.
  1. Routine Interaction – Regular and repeated contact integral to a person’s employmentor volunteer responsibilities.
  1. Mandated Reporter – A mandated reporter is one who is required by law to reportreasonable suspicions of child abuse. All Church Staffmembers and Volunteers are Mandated Reporters.
  1. Permissive Reporter – If you are not a mandatory reporter, then you are a permissivereporter. PA CPSL encourages persons other than mandatory reporters to make areport when they have reason to believe that abuse is, or has, occurred.
  1. CHURCH’S INITIAL PROCESS – CHURCH STAFF MEMBERS
  1. The Senior Pastor will identify which employees/positions, whether full time orpart time, within the Church, fall under the provisions of the CPSL. The determination will include information provided to the Senior Pastor by the Church Staff members.
  1. The Church shall keep a record of all Staff Members registration compliance with the CPSL.
  1. Each Staff Member’s CPSL clearance shall be stored in the Staff Member’s Personnel file.
  1. Existing Staff members required to have certifications, which were obtained prior toDecember 31, 2014, must be renewed within sixty (60) months from the date of theperson’s oldest certification, or by December 31, 2015, if the oldest certification date isbeyond sixty (60) months as of December 31, 2014.
  1. The certifications shall be renewedevery sixty (60) months thereafter.
  1. Existing Staff members now required to have certifications, who were not previously required to have them, are required to have certifications, no later than December 31,2015. The certifications shall be renewed every sixty (60) months thereafter. A condition of continued employment is the completion and successful passing of the CPSL.
  1. New hire certifications must be completed at time of hire. NOTE: A new hire may behired on a provisional basis, if the following conditions are met, for a period not toexceed ninety (90) days:
  1. The applicant has applied for the required certifications and provides copiesof the completed request forms to the Senior Pastor and PRC.
  1. The Senior Pastor & PRC have no knowledge ofinformation that would disqualify the new hire from employment, due to CPSL.
  1. The new hire signs an affidavit affirming they are not disqualified fromemployment, under the CPSL, as it pertains to criminal record and/or a finding ofchild abuse.
  1. If the applicant is disqualified from employment as the result of the CPSLrequirements and certification process, the applicant shall be immediatelydismissed.
  1. If a new hire is hired without certifications having been submitted, the applicant shallnot be permitted to work alone with children and must work in the immediate vicinityof a permanent employee.
  1. A newlyhired employee may use previously obtained certifications if (1) thecertifications were obtained no later than sixty (60) months prior to December 31, 2014,and (2) the employee, prior to beginning employment, swears or affirms in writing bycompleting the Disclosure Statement, Application for Employment, Including ProvisionalEmployment, Required by the Child Protective Service Law that he/she has not beendisqualified from employment due to criminal conviction and/or a finding of child abusethat occurred after he/she initially obtained his/her certifications.
  1. It is the responsibility of the Senior Pastor, and all Church Staff members who have reasonable belief that an employee or Staff member during the course of employment or Church service, was arrested or convicted of an offense that would constitute grounds for denying employment, or was named a perpetrator in a founded or indicated report, to immediately require the employee to submit currentcertifications.
  1. It is the responsibility of all Church Staff members and Volunteers, to give notice of an arrest or conviction of an offense that would constitute grounds for denying employment, or of being named a perpetrator in a founded or indicated report, with such notice to be given to his/her in writing, no later than seventy-two (72) hours after an arrest, conviction or notice that he/she is listed as a perpetrator on the Statewide database.
  1. Anemployee who does not provide the requested information shall be subject to discipline, including termination of employment.
  1. Staff Members, age 18 and older, qualifying under CPSL must obtain the following three certifications. All necessary instructions and links to apply for these certifications independently can be found at:

Pennsylvania Child Abuse History Clearances (Dept. of Human Services), direct link

Pennsylvania Criminal Record Checks (Pennsylvania State Police), direct link

Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) Criminal Background Checks, direct link

A prospective or existing employee may not use certifications obtained for volunteerservice for purposes of satisfying the requirements set forth herein.

An employee, age 14 to 17, only needs to submit Pennsylvania Child Abuse HistoryClearances and Pennsylvania Criminal Record Checks if (1) the individual has been a resident of Pennsylvania for the entirety of the prior 10 years OR has received a FederalBureau of Investigations Criminal Background Check since establishing residence in Pennsylvania and provides a copy of the certification and (2) the individual and the individual’s parent or legal guardian swear or affirm in writing that the individual is not disqualified from service due to a criminal record and/or a finding of child abuse.

  1. All records obtained, and information provided to obtain the same, must be kept confidential and is not subject to the Right-to-Know Law.
  1. CERTIFICATION PROCESS FOR VOLUNTEERS:
  1. Mt. Pleasant Church volunteers, who are adults applying for or holding an unpaid position as a volunteer with a program, activity or service as a person responsible for the child’s welfare or having direct volunteer contact with children must possess a valid CPSL certification.

Official Volunteers are those who have gone through the application process and hold all of the proper clearances in order to be involved regularly in any ministry to children or youth within the church to go through certified child abuse training and education every five years.The process will be overseenby the Church Staff member who has operational control over that volunteer.

  1. The Church Staff member will notify all volunteers within their operations of the need for CPSL certifications.
  1. As of August 25, 2015, existing volunteers who have current certifications are

required to renew certifications every sixty (60) months from the date of the most

recent certification. However, if the currently held certifications are, as of August 25,2015, older than sixty (60) months, new certifications must be obtained by July 1, 2016.The certifications shall be renewed every sixty (60) months thereafter.

  1. Existing volunteers now required to have certifications, who were not previously

required to have them, are required to have certifications no later than July 1, 2016.The certifications, once obtained, shall be renewed every sixty (60) months.

  1. A volunteer may use previously obtained certifications (whether obtained for

employment or prior volunteer purposes) if the volunteer, prior to beginning serviceaffirms in writing that he/she has not been disqualified from service due to criminal conviction and/or a finding of child abuse that occurred after he/she initially obtained his/her certifications. A copy of the Disclosure Statement to be used as written affirmation is attached.

  1. If a volunteer is a resident of another state and wishes to volunteer at the Mt. Pleasant Church if the nonresident volunteer can provide proof that he/she is in compliance withclearance standards for his/her state of domicile, those may be accepted such that thevolunteer can serve on a provisional basis, not to exceed a total of thirty (30) days in acalendar year.
  1. It is the responsibility of the Church Staff member of a given operation, program, activity or service, who has reasonable belief thata volunteer, during the course of service, was arrested or convicted of an offense thatwould constitute grounds for denying an application for service, or was named aperpetrator in a founded or indicated report, to immediately require the volunteer tosubmit current credentials for recertification.
  1. It is the responsibility of the volunteer to give notice of being named a perpetrator in a founded or indicated report, or an arrest or conviction of anoffense that would constitute grounds for denying an application for service.

Such notice is to be given to his/her immediate supervising Church Staff member, in writing, no later than seventy-two (72) hours after an arrest, conviction or notice that he/she is listed as a perpetrator on the statewidedatabase. Upon receiving notice, the Church Staff member shall report this to the Senior Pastor, and inform the volunteer their services are suspended.

  1. A volunteer applying for or holding an unpaid position for the Church, as a person responsible for the child’s welfare orhaving direct volunteer contact with children is required to have the same clearances as an employee of Mt. Pleasant Church, as outlined above except, the volunteer only needs to submit Pennsylvania Child Abuse History Clearances and Pennsylvania Criminal Record Checks if:
  1. The individual has been a resident of Pennsylvania for the entirety of the prior 10 years OR has received a Federal Bureau of Investigations Criminal Background Check since establishing residence in Pennsylvania and provides a copy of thecertification, and;
  1. A signed affidavit detailing that the individual affirms in writing that the individual is not disqualified from service due to acriminal record and/or a finding of child abuse.
  1. CPSL fees for certifications required by the Department of Human Services andPennsylvania State Police shall be waived, and the certifications shall be provided free of charge to the volunteer under the following conditions:
  1. The background certifications are necessary to comply with the CPSL;
  1. The background certifications may not be used and shall not be valid to satisfythe requirements for employment;
  1. Background certifications shall only be provided free of charge to a volunteer

once every 57 months.

  1. The volunteer signs an affidavit acknowledging the background certifications

are necessary to satisfy the CPSL, and the volunteer has not received backgroundcertifications free in the last 57 months.

  1. RECORD KEEPING AND TRACKING
  1. All records obtained, and information provided to obtain the same, must be kept

Confidential and is not subject to the Right-to-Know Law.

  1. The Church Staff member will coordinate the certifications of the volunteers, and will keep a copy on file, give the original to the volunteer (assuming an original is provided), Staff Members shall compile a spreadsheet of all Volunteers working under their operational umbrella.
  1. All Volunteer related clearances will be kept in a data base or spreadsheet.

Information, at minimum, to be tracked and monitored is as follows:

1. Name of the individual

2. Status of individual (Employee, Volunteer)

3. Contact information for the individual (Telephone, Email, Address)

4. Dates most recent Child Abuse, PSP, and FBI clearances/certifications were

received

5. Date most recent training was received

6. Expiration dates for certifications / recertification date

7. Expiration date for training

  1. Training Requirements:
  1. All Church Staff Members are mandated reporters and shall report incidents of potential orsuspected child abuse in accordance with CPSL.

All Church Staff Members and/or volunteers shall report any incidents of neglect or abuse to the Pennsylvania Childlinehotline at 1-800-932-0313. Additionally, the volunteer should report the incident to the appropriate staff member. The appropriate staff member in-turn reports the incident to the Senior Pastor.

  1. Employees and Volunteers required to maintain CPSL certification should participatein certified child abuse recognition and reporting training, for three (3) hours at leastonce every five (5) years. This is mandatory and the initial three (3) hours of trainingmust be completed for existing employees.
  1. New employees and volunteers should obtain three (3) hours of training

within ninety (90) days of hire or start date. Training can be coordinated as follows:

  1. University of Pittsburgh On-line Site
  1. A list of other approved courses can be found at
  1. All Church Staff Members are stronglyencouraged to participate in child abuse recognition and reporting training at leastonce every five (5) years.

Approved by the Mt. Pleasant Governance Board October 27, 2017.

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