Keeping 'em safe

Inherently we know that as a professional youth educator one of our first obligations is to keep youth safe. that includes structuring a safe environment for learning and surrounding them with adults that will have a positive influence in their life. That "positive influence" maybe hard to gauge, but we have a system for gauging the converse. Texas 4-H Youth Protection Standards (volunteer screening) is our first line of defense against adults that could/would harm our children. It is also the standard we have created for keeping youth safe while under the supervision of 4-H Volunteers.

We must never let down our guard! It is with our best intentions that we make exceptions. Accepting late entries, including kids in the program that forgot to register, or reconvening the Validation committee to squeeze in one last validation. One place we can not make exceptions is volunteer screening.

Know that it takes a minimum of 48 hours for the state 4-H office to process a volunteer screening request. If today is Wednesday and a last minute change has created the need for an additional chaperon on Saturday, your only pool of candidates, are previously screened volunteers.

Be pro-active. Encourage even moderately active adults sign up as adult leaders early in the 4-H year, and turn in their screening paperwork as soon as possible.

For what it's worth,
Kevin