Talk to me about Church child safety policies

We recently switched from a larger church to a smaller church but both have similar policies.

At the larger church they implemented KidCheck, the smaller one just did. It is really nice. When you entered the church you go to a computer and print off a label for each child and a single guardian label. The label has the child’s name and ID number that changes at random each week for each family. When picking up from class the teacher matches the child’s label to the guardian label. We also did not allow siblings under the age of 12 to pick up siblings. This was good because it gave constant attendance through the computer system that auto updates so if there was an emergency and had to evacuate there would be no question as to which child was in class and it can be accessed by leadership from different applications. We also did in-class attendance as well. Prior to KidCheck system each child was given a label with a pre printed random number on it, we would hand write their name on the label and the guardian was given a matching smaller sticker with the same number. In this case with 3 kids I had 3 numbers since each label had its own number. With KidCheck all my kids have the same number. When picking up I had to show the sticker with the matching number for my child.

We do have security during service as well. They have small ear walkie talkies to keep in touch. They check in with each class, keep a look out for kids that might be out of class and such. Just make sure everything was going smoothly or if anyone needed help with anything or anything suspicious. They also lock all the secondary doors during service so you can exit but not enter; but always leave the main entrance unlocked for entrance.

Bathroom policies was that the teacher took the kids to the bathroom and/or changed diapers, the helper did not. All teachers have background checks and such, but the helpers are usually volunteers that rotate through. Once a child was in Kinder (and/or able to) they would do bathroom breaks as a group, so the entire class goes to the restroom and waits as they go one at a time.

I also attend a Bible Study that has about 80 kids and 120 ladies during the week. For that since we don’t have KidCheck instead as each mom brings their children they sign in each child on a class specific sign in sheet. Throughout the morning the leadership checks on each class and is walking the halls making sure everyone is where they need to be. We also lock the main doors so that you can exit but not enter. To pick up the kids the mom MUST come to the class and sign out their children. We do not allow siblings to pick up at all since this leads to chaos because mom’s talk and kids run around, LOL. We do have access to a gym space and encourage mom’s to take their kids into that space to let them play as the mom’s chat.

To prevent the “lag” of parents picking up their kids at our church and our Bible study it is announced at the end of every service something like “please pick up your children promptly as a courtesy to the the child care providers so they can prepare to go home” It takes repeating over and over and over again, but people will start to catch on.

At first I was kind of “put off” by how “formal” it has become but after talking to those in leadership I see how having standards really helps. It helps keep the kids safer and it is also really good because it makes the parents check in with their kids teachers. So they can connect even for the quick “how did it go” and then if the teachers have questions or concerns they can talk to the parents, and/or if the parents have concerns they can talk to the teachers. Going from helping at church when there were not standards just kids coming and going and now in a situation where there are more “rules” the rules really are nice. It creates another level of security for the kids and teachers and also allows more communication opportunities.

I honestly hate the formality of big check-ins…but I understand the safety issues. When I used to do children’s ministry, we’d sometimes do sign-in and sign-out by the same parent.

As a parent, I hardly ever use children’s ministry, but when I have, I was ok with my kids just be released to find me (or another adult just bringing them to me) until there were people around I didn’t trust. Unfortunately, that’s just a reality. 🙁 It’s hard to find a balance between maintaining the family atmosphere and working hard to keep our kids safe.