Beyond the specific mandates, the ultimate requirement is change. And lots of it.
How can church leaders successfully guide their employees and volunteers in this process?
California’s AB 506 became effective Jan. 1, 2022. The law requires employees and volunteers who work with children and youth to:
Complete child abuse and neglect identification training.
Undergo a fingerprint-based background check through the state’s Live Scan system.
Choose a volunteer or employee to be the designated reviewer of confidential criminal data.
Churches, ministries and nonprofits who serve children and youth must facilitate and pay for the training and screening.
These mandates require churches, employees and volunteers to alter the way they train and screen volunteers – a process that can be personal and sensitive. “We’ve never done it that way before” can no longer dictate policy (if it ever could). In addition, churches and ministries are often rich in tradition and tend to hold to it tightly. Sometimes this can make change difficult.
Implementing the state’s policy can may require faith-based, volunteer-driven organizations into difficult discussions:
“What is the government trying to do to us now?”
“Don’t you trust me?”
“Why do I have to be fingerprinted and vetted?”
“How are we going to pay for this?”
“A deacon was flagged in the criminal database (worse yet, a staff member). What do we do?”
Much of the discussion around AB 506 is legal and confusing. Ready for some practical application? Join us for a live discussion, featuring your questions, with the founder of HR Ministry Solutions, Tiffany Henning. This webinar is free for all to attend.
Our Experts
Tiffany Henning
HR Ministry Solutions was founded in 2016 by Tiffany Henning, a 15-year veteran in Human Resources and Ministry. This faith based 501c3 organization was launched with the mission of helping churches be as passionate about protecting and providing for their staff as they are for the people they are reaching. Since founding HR Ministry Solutions, Tiffany and her team of HR Pros have helped many ministries with HR compliance, labor law, and staff issues.
Gina Baker
Gina serves as senior vice president of human resources at HR Ministry Solutions. She is passionate about helping clients care for staff and creating processes and procedures to help stay organized and compliant. She has over a decade of ministry and HR experience.