This week I am going to be going into our Be Attitudes which are the values that we need to live and breath each weekend.
Our Be Attitudes for Uptown are:
BE SAFE
BE COURTEOUS
BE ENGAGING
BE CONSISTENT
Today I want to talk about safety. When working with kids you can never be to safe. My perspective is safety has to be paramount in all we do. If Parents don’t feel their kid will be safe they will not bring them if kids do not feel safe they won’t stay. If kids don’t come or won’t stay nothing we do matters life change in our context will not happen.
I thought I would post what some of our safety procedures are and could feedback as to what you guys do or don’t do.
1. Check-in – We use Fellowship One. I researched all the church databases out there on the market a few years ago and Fellowship One was just getting started but were already BY FAR the most kid focused/ kid safe program out there. Each family each week gets a randomly generated alpha numeric code printed on a sticker that the parents have to match to the kiddo sticker. Very safe and very fast.
2. In the hall. No person is allowed in the wing were our kids classes take place without a Fellowship One name-tag. The only people that are allowed are approved volunteers, children of the appropriate age and parents.
3. All workers must fill out an application and have a background check performed.
4. We never change diapers or assist kids in the bathroom.
5. Kids are not allowed to leave their environment until a parent or guardian picks up their child by displaying their matching name-tag code.
PARENT RECEIPT
CHILD NAMETAG
6. We do tours for adults wishing to see our children’s ministry environments AFTER all the kiddos are gone.
7. If we ever need to page parents we text them using our churches Google voice account.
Some people have not liked these changes. But I am committed more than ever to BE SAFE.
Your turn. What do you do or would suggest we do to keep our kiddos safe.
how do you handle #4?
We page the parents. If we have to assist kids in the bathroom we always have two adults in the bathroom to protect our kids and our volunteers.
Seems to be a great system, thanks for sharing. Being safe is much more important than some opinions on the subject.
how do you handle #4?
We page the parents. If we have to assist kids in the bathroom we always have two adults in the bathroom to protect our kids and our volunteers.
Seems to be a great system, thanks for sharing. Being safe is much more important than some opinions on the subject.
Sam,
Great stuff. We use F1 too and love it.
2 questions though…
1. What is the process or system if a parent loses a tag or accidentally throws it away?
2. How do you monitor who goes into your environments before or after services? Do you have security teams check stickers at the doors?
Good stuff here – thanks for posting your process!
Matt Beres
NewPointe Community Church
Matt sorry for the delay.
1. With safety you have to use your head. We want our kids to be safe but we don't want to frisk kids like the TSA. Parents who we know very well who are regulars we don't really check their tags as it slows down check out. People we are unsure about we check. If someone loses a tag we check their license against their fellowship one record and ask them to state the members of their family.
2. We have only one entrance from the church to the kids wing. We have a security person there to check for tags the only people allowed down in our kids wing 15min before and 30min after are Parents with parent tags, kiddos with tags and uptown staff with tags.
Hope this helps.
Sam,
Great stuff. We use F1 too and love it.
2 questions though…
1. What is the process or system if a parent loses a tag or accidentally throws it away?
2. How do you monitor who goes into your environments before or after services? Do you have security teams check stickers at the doors?
Good stuff here – thanks for posting your process!
Matt Beres
NewPointe Community Church
Matt sorry for the delay.
1. With safety you have to use your head. We want our kids to be safe but we don't want to frisk kids like the TSA. Parents who we know very well who are regulars we don't really check their tags as it slows down check out. People we are unsure about we check. If someone loses a tag we check their license against their fellowship one record and ask them to state the members of their family.
2. We have only one entrance from the church to the kids wing. We have a security person there to check for tags the only people allowed down in our kids wing 15min before and 30min after are Parents with parent tags, kiddos with tags and uptown staff with tags.
Hope this helps.