NEW VOLUNTEERS
Volunteers are an extremely important part of our St. Joseph Parish community. Every parish volunteer 18 years of age and older who has any contact or access to children are required to do the following:
- Attend a three-hour training session. Go tohttps://www.dioceseofcleveland.org/offices/parish-life/child-protection/overview or https://www.virtusonline.org/mytraining/live_registration.cfm to find upcoming sessions. When you attend a training session, you will be given a certificate of completion. Please bring that to the Rectory or School Office. We will make a copy and return the original to you.
- Go online to the Diocese of Cleveland's website https://www.dioceseofcleveland.org/offices/parish-life/child-protection/resources and read the Policy for the Safety of Children in Matters of Sexual Abuse, revised 2016. Sign the acknowledgment form and submit it to the Rectory or School Office.
- Go online tohttps://www.dioceseofcleveland.org/offices/parish-life/child-protection/resources and read the Standard of Conduct for Ministry. Sign the acknowledgment form and submit it to the Rectory or School Office.
- Complete the application (available in the school and rectory offices) that provides information and references.
- Complete a BCI background check through the State of Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation. For those who have not been an Ohio resident for the last five years, a BCI and FBI background check will need to be completed. At some of the sessions, you may be given the chance to have your background check done at the same time. If not, you may receive a BCI background check at the DMV. Volunteers are responsible for any fees associated with the background check.
Please have the results sent to:
Attn: Jessica Plaspohl
St. Joseph Parish
215 Falls Ave
Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio 44221
REMEMBER, after all of your paperwork is submitted, please bring it to the Rectory or school offices. Your information will be entered into the Diocesan database.
All employees are required to receive a BCI & FBI background check.
Please plan ahead! If you want to volunteer for 6th-grade camp, field trips, cafeteria duty, picture day, etc., or coach sports, please don’t wait for the last possible moment to be VIRTUS trained.
We thank you for your continued cooperation and may God bless you for the time and talents you are so willing to share with the children of St. Joseph Parish.
CURRENT VOLUNTEERS
Attention all Virtus-trained Volunteers:
On June 15, 2016, Bishop Lennon approved the revised editions of both the Policy for the Safety of Children in Matters of Sexual Abuse and the Standards of Conduct for Ministry. The new revised 2016 documents will become effective December 31, 2016.
Everyone who is VIRTUS trained and plans to continue to volunteer with children after January 31, 2017, is required to participate in a mandatory in-service to review changes to the Diocesan revised documents and the revised fingerprinting policy. This session is only for those who have already received Virtus training, including Saint Joseph Parish employees, Saint Joseph Parish School volunteers, PSR volunteers, CYO volunteers and all others who work with children in our parish.
You may watch a pre-recorded in-service found at http:// www.dioceseofcleveland.org/childprotection/videos/. After participating in the in-service, please read both the Policy for the Safety of Children in Matters of Sexual Abuse, the Standards of Conduct for Ministry and sign with correlating documents. On the top of the sheet where it requires the date for the “in service session,” you may substitute the date of viewing the video if you choose to watch the videos.
If you currently volunteer with children or plan to continue to volunteer with children in the future, please watch the videos or attend the in-service, read the policies, and submit the forms to the Rectory, School Office, or place them in the collections basket on Sundays. Please address them Attn: Eric Eiermann, Virtus.
In a nutshell, complete the following:
- Watch videos at http://www.dioceseofcleveland.org/childprotection/videos/
- Read the revised Policy for the Safety of Children in Matters of Sexual Abuse.
- Print, sign, and return "Appendix 7 - Form Acknowledging Receipt and Reading of this Policy".
- Read the revised Standards of Conduct for Ministry.
- Print, sign, and return "Standards of Conduct for Ministry, Revised 2016 Diocese of Cleveland Acknowledgment Form"