How to Prepare for Parish and/or School Visits
The Safe Environment Office does conduct parish and school visits to review compliance with the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People. These visits are designed to review and verify information and documentation that parishes and/or schools provide for the compliance of the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People (Charter).
The following is a guide to help you prepare your parish and/or school for a visit. As always, if you have any further questions or would like additional information, please contact Suzanne Nickolai at nickolais@archmil.org.
Review Applicable Policies and Procedures. Employees and volunteers should be aware of their Mandatory Reporting Responsibilities and be able to give examples of boundary issues based on the Code of Ethical Standards.
Review your list of all employees and volunteers. The Archdiocese can provide a list from their database for you to compare with your database of all parish/school employees and volunteers who are required to comply with the Charter.
Verify documentation. Parishes/schools must ensure that for each “active” employee and volunteer in the database they have current documentation for the following: 1) File of signed copy of the Code of Ethical Standards; 2) Verification of completion of criminal background checks. It is also a good idea to maintain a separate file for those “inactive” employees or volunteers where such documents were at one time active.
Correspondence to staff, volunteers, parents, and community. Please make sure that you have copies of all materials sent or made available regarding the Safe Environment Education. These include newsletters and other correspondence from the Archdiocese and any other information or correspondence that you, as a parish/school or district have provided, i.e., bulletin articles or inserts, special programs, etc. Also, each parish/school must have a copy of the Safeguarding All of God’s Family Resource Guide (blue binder).
Curriculum. Please make available samples of curriculum used for children and youth in the school and/or religious education programs, as applicable. Include completed copies of the verification form used by the Schools and Lifelong Faith Formation Offices. If parents have chosen to “opt out” of the Safe Environment Education for their children, a list and signed notification must be made available.