Safe Environment Program Office at 6363 9th Avenue North, St. Petersburg, FL 33710 US - Background Screening
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Background Screening |
Fingerprinting Requirement for Level 2 Background Check These Church Personnel must successfully complete a Level 2 Criminal History Background Check. The May 2006 Diocese of St. Petersburg Policy for the Protection of Children and Vulnerable Adults instituted the Minimum Standards of Moral Conduct as promulgated by the Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops. Church Personnel who wish to serve in any position of service must meet these Minimum Standards of Moral Conduct, which are now a prerequisite to service in the Church. Any individual found guilty of one of the 34 crimes contained in the Diocese's Minimum Standard of Moral Conduct cannot be employed by the Diocese or allowed to volunteer in any capacity. However, the Diocese has instituted an appeal process, which is available through the Office of the Tribunal. The Diocese of St. Petersburg Safe Environment Program Office is responsible for performing all Level 2 Criminal History Background Checks. Level 2 Criminal History Background Checks are based an electronic fingerprint search that is processed through the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE)/FBI Volunteer, Employee Criminal History System (VECHS) fingerprint database. The Diocese of St. Petersburg does not accept background screening reports from any federal agency, state agency, or private information vendor regardless of the screening organization and regardless of the position that an individual currently holds or may have held in the past - NO EXCEPTIONS. Fingerprints contained in the FBI database can be used only for the purpose intended and are federal-statute specific. This means that the sharing of criminal history reports between entities is not allowed. In order to begin the background screening process, Church Personnel who wish access to children youth, and or vulnerable adults must first obtain and complete a Covered Volunteer Application Form. This form can be obtained form the parish, school, or early childhood center where they wish to work or volunteer. Secondly, individuals must register online at the following secure website: http://dosp.sofn.net, select a time, date, and location to be printed and then keep the appointment. For those individuals who do not access to a computer, please contact the PrideRock Customer Assistance number at 877-323-8885 to register by phone. A Level 2 Criminal History Background Check costs $50 per session. This fee covers the costs charged by the Volunteer, Employee Criminal History System (VECHS), the state-wide check by Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE), the national check by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the processing fees charged by the vendor to cover the cost of equipment, processing, and administrative costs. Who pays for the cost of keeping the children and vulnerable adults of the diocese safe? Initially, the cost of keeping our children, youth, and vulnerable adults safe through screening for criminal history through fingerprinting of those wishing access to these protected groups is covered in various ways. At the point of service, the Diocese pays so that there is no money exchanged. For volunteers in the Please direct all questions regarding fingerprinting to the Safe Environment Program Manager of the Diocese of St. Petersburg Safe Environment Office at 727-344-1611, Extension 377 or via e-mail at ag@dosp.org.
The Diocese places two rings of protection around its children, youth, and vulnerable adults - a criminal history background check and safe environment program training. (It is important to note that covered volunteers must complete a Covered Volunteer Application BEFORE they go online to register to be fingerprinted. This application form can be obtained from the parish or school office or on this webpage (see right-hand column). Once completed and accepted by the parish or school, the Volunteer Application Form becomes the authorization document to be fingerprinted and acceptance of the initial cost of the fingerprinting session by the covered volunteers parish or school.
The first line of defense, then, is a Level 2 Criminal History Background Check of anyone who wishes unsupervised access to children, youth or vulnerable adults. A Level 2 Background Check is a check of an individual's background predicated upon an electronically taken and transmitted set of digital fingerprints matched against prints contained in the FBI's National Criminal Information Center (NCIC) database and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement's (FDLE) Volunteer and Employee Criminal History System (VECHS) database.
A Level 2 criminal history background check gives the diocese access to all arrest records to include: expunged records, sealed records, missing persons records, sexual predator listings, outstanding warrants in all 3,200 counties of the United States and the five U.S. Terrritories, as well as access to the Interpol criminal records database internationally. Click here to register to be fingerprinted online once permission from the parish or school has been obtained
The second line of defense is Safe Environment Program (SEP) Training. Both SEP Training and the Level 2 Criminal History Background Check are required before an individual can have the care, responsibility, and or supervision of children and youth or access to vulnerable adults. The order in which these two requirements is not important, i.e. the training can come first or the fingerprinting session can come first.
It is important to note that the following classes of adults must have their backgrounds checked for criminal history:
1. All Employees
2. Adult Covered Volunteers who wish or may have unsupervised access to children, youth, or vulnerable adults (A Covered Volunteer is one who may have unsupervised access to children, youth, and or vulnerable adults).
3. Vendors and Contractors who wish or may have unsupervised access to children, youth, or vulnerable adults. (A vulnerable adult is a person 18 years or older whose ability to perform the normal activities of daily living or to provide for his or her own care or protection is impaired due to a mental, emotional, physical, developmental disability dysfunction, brain damage, or the infirmities of aging. This requirement then applies to those who provide pastoral care in the homes of vulnerable adults and to those Eucharistic Ministers who take Communion to the Sick and Shut-in (Eucharistic Ministers to the Homebound).
Not all volunteers need to be screened for criminal history. Non-covered volunteers include such job titles as Eucharistic Ministers at Mass (not Eucharistic Ministers to the Sick and Shut-In), Lectors, Cantors, money counters, parish council members, etc. who do not have unsupervised access to children, youth, or vulnerable adults do not have to be screened. However, the pastor does have the authority to screen anyone who he thinks could possibly have unsupervised access to children, youth and or vulnerable adults.
Non-employees under the age of 21 do not need to be screened for criminal history or Safe Environment Program trained. Why? It is because these non-employees under the age of 21 are not allowed to have unsupervised access to children, youth, or vulnerable adults. This includes youth ministers, coaches, mentors, scout leaders, babysitters, etc. These individuals who may assist with children, youth or vulnerable adults must be supervised by a volunteer or employee who has completed a Safe Environment Program Workshop and has successfully completed a Level 2 Background Check.
In an effort to protect our children, youth, and vulnerable adults from abuse and neglect, the Bishop has instituted the Diocese of St. Petersburg Policy for the Protection of Children and Vulnerable Adults (May 2006). This policy applies to Church Personnel who may have the care, responsibility, and or supervision of children or unsupervised access to vulnerable adults. Church Personnel is defined as clergy (priest, deacon, or religious), employee (any lay person who is employed by or engaged in ministry who is given payment for services in any form), or covered volunteer (any unpaid person who is engaged or involved in any diocesan institution or parish activity).
Results of criminal history background checks are provided to the pastor of each diocesan entity. (Note: Every organization within the diocese has a juridic person in charge who is normally the pastor-even for schools and early childhood centers)
However, the Diocese then bills the individual parish or school who sent the employee or volunteer to be printed. It is up to the individual parish or school to recover those fees if it is their policy to do so. Some do recover the cost and some don't.
Employee costs are covered by the employer. New hire job applicants may or may not pay for these costs depending on the policy of the hiring entity. For volunteers in the parishes, it depends on the policies of the individual parish. Some parishes cover the cost of screening their covered volunteers while others charge the volunteer. A covered volunteer is an individual who may have the care, responsibility, and or supervision of a child, youth, or vulnerable adult regardless of the frequency of the unsupervised contact with children, youth, or vulnerable adults.
Current Fingerprinting Locations
