Kidnapping at Church!

People often ask me why we have security at church?  Why do we have such stringent rules in Children's Church?  I tell them that we are protecting our children from risks such as kidnapping.  Again I hear, that won't happen here.  My response to that comment is that a large majority of kidnappings are perpetrated by parents and family members.  The most common example would be you have a couple that is going through a nasty divorce.  Mom has custody of little Johnny and Dad wants to see him.  Dad knows that Mom takes little Johnny to church on Sunday mornings.  While Mom is in the Worship service Dad shows up at Children's Church.  Little Johnny sees Dad and runs to him.  The Children's Workers see that Little Johnny knows his Dad and allows him to leave with his Dad.  When Mom comes to pick Little Johnny up after service everyone realizes that Dad has kidnapped Little Johnny and has probably crossed state lines by now.

This scenario can happen too easily in most churches today because we are too lax in our security procedures when it comes to our children.  We think that nothing like this will happen.  We know all of our parents so a kidnapping scenario can not happen here.  Do you really know what is going on in all of the lives of the families in your church.  I spoke with a friend recently who told me of a situation in his church similar to the one that I described earlier.  The family is going through an ugly break up and no one knew.  They only knew that Mom is coming to church with the children alone right now.  She did not inform anyone of the situation, so no one really knows.  This can happen in your church.

That's why you must have some type of check in check out process that requires proof to pick up a child from Children's Church.  There must be a verification process that matches a parent badge or sticker to the child's badge or sticker.  When the parent comes to pick up Little Johnny, the parent must present the parent badge and it must match the child's badge.  There should also be a list of people who are authorized to pick up the child in an emergency.

This simple process can prevent a bad situation that can lead to liability for the church.  Think about it.  If you do not currently have a process in place, please start some type of simple program today.  You can find resources that will help you with this and many other risk and liability issues on my website www.trinityriskmanagement.com.