What Can We Learn from Penn State?

Penn State made a LOT of mistakes, all the way up the chain. Even the witness didn't do everything right.

In a university setting, they have their own police dept. The witness should have gone to them as well as the next person up the chain of command. That would have prompted an internal investigation that could have been defended against! (at better than the defense they have now)

Instead it appears no one at Penn State ever sought the opinion of law enforcement. It even appears as if they "pushed the matter under the rug" to keep from dealing with it directly. After all the coach was well known and in line to replace Paterno (sp).

How does this relate in a church setting? Not very well.

At church the use of 2 people anytime children are present, men making sure they aren't alone with a woman in a closed room, that sort of vigilance is the best that can be hoped for. As long as the you have policies set up and followed then you have done the best you can as a church pastor. Then if you have an incident, God forbid, both church leadership and law enforcement needs to be reported too. It's looking the other way and thinking something is a one time event that gets organizations in trouble. (or, the "he'd never do something like that!" mentality)

 

We have a highly developed child protection policy with zero tolerance for anyone, and we mean anyone, who violates it. We run background checks on all volunteers in children and student ministries and all staff members.

For a church not to have this is asking for trouble. We've turned away four individuals this year who have wanted to help with children's ministry but had problems. They disappeared from our church. I pray they are likewise screened elsewhere.

 

Who or what agency do you use for screening?

 

Seems to me "policies" are to prevent anything from happening, but after it has happened morals ought to take over so that it gets reported. I have no idea what policies are/were in place but after it happened it seems moral standard was rather missing.

 

What kind of problems?

 

My question is based on the vague sentence. I( am asking what kind of history would keep someone from being illegible to work with children but not be straight out violations involving children.

 

I personally think Paterno got a bad wrap. They are treating him as if he did the crimes himself. He did more then many people do " Told those in charge". It is like a member of the church telling the pastor about something that is going on and the pastor doing nothing. The member should not be treated so bad. They trusted the pastor would do what is right. They may not have done everything perfect but who does? It was a hard situation. He could have done nothing but he did something and that should be looked at also. Bwe. Give the guy a break.

 

"It was a hard situation." Very true and any one of the people calling the police would have stopped it.

 

Yes, He put it in the hands of the people who are responsible to take care of situations like these. Unfortunatly they let the school and most importantly the children down. The man that did these crimes should pay and those who did nothing when they found about about it. Not the person who tried to do something. He may not have done enough in everyones eye's but he should not be treated as harsh and now seems as though, he will retire after the year is over. Sad... He was a good man and coach and did alot in life and this one instance is ruining him.

 

Here is a question:

In your State (or Province), are you, as a minister or pastor a mandatory informant?

Reason I ask is that my wife is a teacher in the public schools and she is obligated by law to report child abuse to the guidance counselor and nobody else. I wonder at what point she calls the police? I don't know, but I'm going to ask her.

So if we are a mandatory informant, to whom must we report in our particular state?

How is it in your state?

 

this sounds like what we do as well.

 

I'm not completely certain. Our children and student ministries handle these issues. Off the top of my head I know the agency, or method, is highly credible and we pay a lot per check. Which is 100% worth it.

We have a number local and federal law enforcement agents that are involved with our church. That is an aid as well.

 

In Alabama, I believe CPS is the agency to report too. I could be wrong but I don't believe so.

Other states may do things differently.

 

I can't be too specific about our instances but often churches report finding people with outstanding child protective orders against them, recent offenses, past offenses, and other matters dealing directly with crimes against minors.

As a rule while we appreciate and want to seek restoration for people who have failed in the past, and even those who failed before they were saved, no person who has committed an offense against children is allowed to work with them at our church. We have had to talk with a couple of people about it and they are generally understanding.

 

For starters, they should engage in a serious and thorough investigation into any claim of impropriety and turn the matter over to the police.

 

We do not know all the details either. When the story is out, if it ever is, maybe we can hindsight it much easier