The Diocesan Policy, Protecting God’s Children, requires every volunteer working with children under the age of 16 to:

1.   Have a Criminal Bakcground Check (You must complete this prior to attending the workshop)
2.   Attend a workshop entitled Protecting God’s Children (You must complete the background check first)
3.   Be familiar with the Diocesan Policy on Sexual Abuse and sign the Code of Pastoral Conduct.

This is NOT an optional policy, which a parish or school can choose to participate in or not. It is required that every church volunteer and employee partake in the 3-fold policy listed above.
  
Diocesan Mandate requires that we must be 100% compliant with all of our school parents, religious education personnel, CYO, and all adults working with confirmation, youth, and children’s ministries.
  
 IMPORTANT - Volunteers or employees working with children in our parish or school may not begin work until all three requirements are met. Physical evidence of compliance with each item must be on file in our office before you can be cleared to work:

1.   Clearance from an online background check
2.   A certificate of attendance at a workshop
3.   A signed Code of Pastroral Conduct

If you should have any questions or concerns on your status as a volunteer in any of our church  or school programs please contact the Sacred Heart School office.

DIRECTIONS:
  
Criminal Background Check: Fingerprinting is NO LONGER required. An online background check is done by a subcontracted firm called Sterling Infosystems Inc. All instructions for completing the background check and obtaining the proper disclosure forms is included below.  This must be completed prior to enrolling in the Protecting God's Children Workshop.

Protecting God’s Children Workshop: Pre-registration   is necessary To register go online to www.virtus.org and click on Registration. We are part of the Diocese of Paterson.   Choose a workshop location offered at nearby parishes. Get a certificate of attendance upon completion of the course and forward the copy to the school office so we can make a record of your attendance.
  
Code of Pastoral Conduct: Read it, print out the signature page (page 11), sign it, and send it to the school office.

FORMS:

• VOLUNTEERS ONLY - Directions for obtaining a Criminal Background Check
• VOLUNTEERS ONLY - Sterling Infosystems Consent Disclosure Form
• STAFF ONLY - Directions for obtaining a Criminal Background Check
• STAFF ONLY - NJAPS2 FORM FOR MORPHOTRAK
• ALL - Code of Pastoral Conduct - Review and sign page 11