Volunteer and Employee Screening

Two Options

Below are two options for your church to consider in doing screening of volunteers.  We have investigated several agencies and these are the ones the FLD recommends:

1. Accufax (www.accufax-us.com)

Accufax provides a church volunteer screening service which includes:

1. State Criminal Search.: Updated monthly databases provide information on dispositions or convictions which are often not reported to the state level.
2. Department of Corrections,: This statewide search will let you know if your applicant has been in the penal system in your state.
3. National Wanted Fugitive Search: looks for wanted felons or missing persons.
4. Known Sex Offender Search: Checks all local, county and state registries to determine whether the applicant is a registrant.
5. Social Search/Address Update:  This determines that the person using the social security number is who they say they are and that there are no addresses associated with the social security number that are fraudulent.  It also alerts you to individuals who have moved frequently or are new to an area.

Each database validates and cross-checks others to insure the most accurate reporting possible.

Screening service is backed up by a million dollar Errors and Omissions insurance policy that would cover monetary losses in the event of an error leading to a suit against the church.

The Forest Lakes District has paid the annual membership fee, so individual district churches are not required to pay that fee.  The charge would be $29.45 for each volunteer checked.  The FLD office can provide you with an information packet.

2. Church Mutual (www.churchmutual.com)

Church Mutual uses an agency called ChoicePoint as their preferred background screening vendor.  The service is called ScreenNow which you can access through Church Mutual’s Web.  The cost of this service is priced ala carte, ie, you pay for which specific records you want searched on each volunteer.

Here is a sample:

a.       National criminal file search - $22.50

b.      State criminal records search - $4.50

c.       County criminal search - $14.40 per county

d.      Sex offender registry database - $8.10 per state

For further information check out each website or call the FLD office.