POLICIES RELATED TO CRIMINAL BACKGROUND CHECK

;\iational Policies

• Effective April 1, 2003, all new adult volunteers in the traditional Scouting program will have a criminal background check.

• Social Security numbers will be required for all new adult volunteers in the traditional program.

• All adult applicants must sign the Adult Application, giving informed consent to conduct a background check. No one may sign for another person.

• The National Council will cover the cost of basic package services through 200S.

Scout Executive Responsibilities

• The Scout executive is responsible for making certain that proper screening procedures are being followed. If a criminal record is found, the Scout executive will be personally responsible for seeing that proper procedures are followed.

• The Scout executive will determine the course of action to be taken by referring to the booklet Procedures for Maintaining Standards ofMembership.

• Only those council employees approved by the Scout executive will have access to the background check information.

National Support

• The assistant regional director for support will continue to be the person assigned to handle standards of leadership issues in the region.

• Registration Service at the national office will be the support group for criminal background checks.

• Councils using another criminal background screening process may continue to use that process. If they do, the National Council will pay the lower of their actual costs or the cost of using the National Council Vendor.

Volunteers Without A Social Security Number

Adult volunteers in the BSA's traditional program must provide a Social Security number to become a registered leader. "Those who decline to provide their Social Security number will not be allowed to register as leaders in the Boy Scouts of America."

However, there are some rare situations where the individual making application as an adult volunteer does not have a Social Security number. Exceptions will be granted to those individuals on a case-by-case basis. The process to request an exception to the Social Security number requirement is as follows:

• The Scout executive determines an individual does not have a Social Security number and the explanation for this exception.

• The council enters the individual into the Name File within the Program Administration System (PAS) of ScoutNET and prints a person profile report for the person.

• The Scout executive submits a written request, detailing the reasons for the request, to the director of Registration Service at the national office for an exception. The person profile report must be included as an attachment to the letter for exception.

Revised June 2004

47

liK CBC Worksheet, CBC TrJC:Klng Report, CBe Submittal Confilll1ation, eBC Submittal Edit List, and I 'Be' Complete Dates EdIt List should be shredded once the indJ\lciual records have been updated

lithe eBe vendor finds a criminal record on the applicant and the application is flagged, the report from the else \endor should go directly' to the Scout executive, or the deSlgT13ted eBe processor.

• If the Scout executive detem1ines not to place the individual on the InelIgIble Volunteer File. a copy of the application should be attached to the record that was received from the eBC vendor with a note explaining the decision. This ml0l111ation must be placed in a file and secured in a locked cabinet, preferably in the Scout e:xecutivc's office.

• If the Scout executive decides to place the individual on the Ineligible File. he should follow the mstructions in the Procedures .lor Maintaining Standards of Membership booklet No 28-105, The Scout executive should make sure that the most current booklet is being used. Any infomlation sent to the national office should 31so include the record from the CBC vendor.

The Scout council currently maintains four paper files on enrollment and application infomlation:

• Current file which includes the original application (which has the Social Security number). The current file is a file of this year's business and is kept for one year.

• History file, The original application is kept in this file for t\'iO years.

• Advancement file.

• Application with report from the CBe vendor showing a criminal record.

Scout councils need to detemlme:

• \Vhere these files are kept and the degree of security, which will vary from council office to council office.

• The method of how youth and adult applications are kept at the council office for the three-year retention period.

• A policy restricting who has access to these files.

Recommendations

• Keep the original applications in the current file for three years.

• After the three year retention period, the original application should be shredded, not just thrown away.

• Maintain the current file in a secure environment, preferably a locked file cabinet. If a locked file cabinet is not available, select a comparable method.

• Scout executive should designate a person to control access to the current file.

• Do not include the original application in either the History or Advancement files. These files can then be stored in a less secure environment.

ReVised June 2004

49

i'./ational Council Boy Scouts of America

2007 Annual Local Council Membership Validation Procedures The following procedures must be reviewed and certified by all professionals, paraprofessionals, council registrar staff, council office employees, program aids/project workers, and designated volunteers.

S. Members and Volunteers Responsible (with Scout executive) Step

Scout executive 1. All membership and LFL participation fees paid by the council are to be approved by the Scout executive following written guidelines established by the executive board. Council-paid fees must be a budgeted expense item approved by board resolution.

2. Make copies of this form available for signature of all professionals, paraprofession­als, registrar staff, employees, and designated volunteers. At a staff meeting with all affected employees, review these procedures, answer questions, and have each person sign a copy. Large councils may need to do this by field division.

Review and obtain volunteer signatures at a meeting(s) of district Key 3's.

3. Signed forms and roster form. Have the Scout executive's secretary set up a file of the signed copies to be retained for at least five years. Fill out the roster form indicating which employees have signed the forms.

Send an original copy of the form signed by the council Key 3 to the regional service center by March 1.

4. Make sure that correct procedures are being followed in criminal background checks. Monitor procedures for safeguarding confidential information proVided to the council. Ensure that there is no unauthorized use of the background check program, data, or information that is received. Any misuse by an employee may be cause for termination. Carefully review policies on criminal background checks found in the latest Registrar Procedures Manual, No. 28-901 .

Registrar 5. Mail all registration cards directly to the unit leader of record with a cover letter from the Scout executive requesting that the Scout executive be contacted personally if there are any discrepancies or errors on the cards. This is done at unit charter renewal and for additional enrollments. In the case of Explorer posts and Learning for Life groups, group and participant certificates are mailed to Explorer Advisors and LFL lead teachers with the letter coming from the council's LFL chairman. Note that this system must also ensure that no one has access to registration cards other than the individuals involved with mailing cards.

Assistant Scout executive, 6. Make a personal "welcoming" telephone call to the new unit leader of record when director of support services a new unit is processed. This call should be made within two weeks of the arrival of the (not line staff), support charter application in the council service center. This call will help verify the interest of executive in councils with the council and encourage the leader to take advantage of council and district services. support staff, or Scout This step should be on the registrar's checklist of steps in processing new units. It will executive in asmall council be helpful if the registrar sends a note to the designated caller with basic information for

making the call. A written log should be maintained documenting the calls.

Field director with 7. Conduct semiannual "unit health" reviews (in January and July). commissioner/service team A. The unit-serving executive meets with his/her commissioner team to evaluate the chairman and related field units in the district. (This should be a part of the goal-setting process in January.)staff Units meeting Centennial Quality Unit commitments would normally receive a grade

of "good." Units not meeting these commitments will be rated as "fair" or "poor" based . on the challenges this unit will face in achieving Centennial Quality status.

B. For every unit in the fair or poor category, a plan is developed by the unit-serving executive and his commissioner team based on how this unit can be brought back to Centennial Quality Unit status. This plan is shared with the council commissioner and the staff leader for the executive. These plans should be kept on file by the registrar. Specific actions should be identified monthly and progress reported. Priority should be placed on units with "life-threatening" problems.

C. Twice a year, unit status should be compared to the last report. "Fair" or "poor units not changing in status should be given immediate attention by the youth serving executive's staff leader with help from the appropriate assistant distric commissioner or district commissioner.

Reqistrar, Scout 8. Watch for unusual or no changes in unit membership. Notify the Scout executiV( e Itive immediately when there is a loss of 50 percent or more of youth members a

rechartering or an abnormal influx of new members, or when there are no changes ir youth and adults reregistering. Charter applications should be screened to reveal an) significant numbers of "short-term" or "long-term" registrations. An objective appraisa should be made to ascertain the reasons. Units with more than 100 members or fewe, than five at registration time must receive written approval by the Scout executive These approvals should be kept in the units' files.

All staff members 9. Maintain standards of membership and leadership by following BSA registratior procedures, including verification, signatures, complete applications, and correct feE charges. Field receipts must be used when accepting and handling funds. No pail employee of the council is to be registered in any volunteer position without the writter permission of the Scout executive. The only exception is a unit in which the children 0

the employee participate.

Learning for Life groups must be evaluated by the school principal annually, with thE results of the review approved by the Scout executive. Learning for Life rosters shoulc. be initialed by the head of the organization before being submitted to the local counci service center for processing. In those cases where the school will not release thE rosters, a signed letter from the principal is required stating the school's policy A memorandum of understanding must be signed each year by the participatin~

organization and the council to ensure a quality program and continuous registration.

10. All youth participants in the council are registered with the Boy Scouts of Americc or Learning for Life.

11. The Open-Door Policy is a means to resolve membership concerns. The stafl member/registrar is encouraged to discuss a concern with their immediate staff leader If the concern is such that it cannot be discussed with or resolved by the immediate staff leader, the employee should be free to approach the next level of management, the Scout executive, or the area director.

To make an anonymous report, go to www.ethicspoint.com.

REQUIRED CERTIFICATIONS

Employee Certification I have reviewed the above Membership Validation Procedures and certify that I understand how they apply to my responsibilities in the council.

Employee signature Staff position Date

District Key 3 Certification

We have reviewed the above Membership Validation Procedures and certify that we understand how they apply to our responsibilities in the district and council.

District executive signature District chairman signature District commissioner signature

Date District Council

Copies to be retained in the local council service center.

Co~..;il Key 3 Certification

We have reviewed this information with our staff leaders, all other professional staff members, the registrar staff, and all district Key 3's and certify that the council enforces the above procedures.

Scout executive signature Council president signature Council commissioner signature

Date Council Number

I have reviewed this information with the Scout executive. I certify that the proper membership validation procedures are in place and the council is in compliance.

Area director signature Date

Send original copy to the regional service center by March 1. (Region forwards original to Registration Service.)

No. 28-32SK SCll