Summer Camp Background Checks May Contain Loopholes

Written By Thomas Ahearn

While some summer camp background checks include mandatory state background checks for workers dealing with children in summer camps, they do not also perform federal background checks and may contain loopholes for predators to slip through, according to the report ‘Summer Camp background checks not nationwide’ from KXAN News in Austin, Texas.

KXAN reports organizations such as the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) take additional measures to ensure safety with summer camp background checks. A YMCA spokesman told KXAN every YMCA employee goes through a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) fingerprint database in addition to state background checks.

In one case, a stronger summer camp background checks program may have stopped a flagged offender who was hired at a camp because no federal background check was performed on him. The offender is now in prison but only “after several years involving more allegations, more victims, more arrests,” KXAN reports.

“The problem is that child molesters can travel from state to state in search of new opportunities to groom new victims and exploit organization’s without strong measures in place to protect children,” says Attorney Lester Rosen, CEO of background check firm Employment Screening Resources (ESR).

“A camp that is truly committed to child safety needs an aggressive program designed to catch the roving molester,” says Rosen, author of ‘The Safe Hiring Manual.’ “No single one background check will do it, not even the FBI database check, assuming a camp has legal access to the FBI material.”

When it comes to summer camp background checks, Rosen says a camp needs a professional to assist them in implementing overlapping searches and controls to protect children. “Since there are so many differences between states in terms of criminal record searches, one size does not fit all,” he says.

For information about summer camp background checks, contact Employment Screening Resources (ESR) by visiting https://www.esrcheck.com, call Toll Free 888.999.4474, or email [email protected]. The complete report from KXAN News is available at http://kxan.com/2014/06/17/summer-camp-background-checks-not-nationwide/.