Screening of Day-Care Workers : Churches Urged to Guard Against Child-Abuse Suits

Religious institutions are being hit with a tide of child-abuse lawsuits, and a leading church-state attorney says churches should take steps to protect themselves and the children.

Such action “is long overdue,” says Oliver S. Thomas, general counsel for the Baptist Joint Committee on Public Affairs in Washington, noting the swelling number of such cases.

“It’s going on across the country, for religious as well as non-religious organizations,” he added in a telephone interview.

Thomas sees the increase in child-abuse and sexual molestation cases as resulting largely from the much larger proportion of children being placed in day-care centers when both parents work. Churches operate more than half the day-care centers in the country, studies have found.

Counsel’s Advice

Thomas advises churches to begin screening all child-care workers, as well as other employees placed in regular contact with children, to verify that they have not been convicted of child-related crimes.

“This is not a burdensome thing and it’s extremely important for the children’s sake,” he said. “Parents would be pleased. And churches could breathe a sigh of relief that they’ve acted responsibly.”

Thomas said that more than 100 claims for sexual abuse of children have been filed against churches nationwide and that the number is continually growing, involving various denominations.

“It’s not a Baptist, Catholic or Methodist problem, but everybody’s concern,” he said. “It’s pervasive.”

He said damage settlements in such cases are in the millions. “These are big-dollar lawsuits,” he said. “Churches don’t realize their potential liability, nor the greater need for protecting the children.”

He said information regarding sex offenses or other crimes is a matter of public record available through local criminal and civil court clerks, or in some localities, circuit or district court clerks handling both criminal and civil records.

“The stakes are high for both the children and the churches. On the human side, one incident of abuse can scar a child for life. On the financial side, the potential costs to the church is staggering.”

While not suggesting formal screening of Sunday school teachers and other lay volunteers, as he does for day-care workers, he advises extreme care in selecting anyone who will have frequent, direct contact with children.

He said traditionally, claims against churches for abusive acts by employees have met with little success on grounds that such acts were aberrations disconnected from the employment, and the church thus was not accountable.

However, he said a different possibility has been raised by a case against Victory Tabernacle Church in Norfolk, Va., sued by parents of a young girl repeatedly raped by a church employee.

They contended that the church should have known of the employee’s past child-abuse offenses. While a trial court dismissed the case on grounds that the church itself was not liable, the Virginia Supreme Court reinstated the case.

Thomas said the difference is that the parents, rather than contending that the church is responsible for acts of an employee, contend that it is responsible for its own act in placing an unfit employee in a job endangering others.

“It’s a different issue,” he said. “The church is going to have to face it. We need to take heed.”

He noted that some states such as Florida already have acted to make screening of day-care workers mandatory. Although churches were exempt from the Florida law, the state Baptist convention has advised compliance with it.