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American Camp Association:
Public Policy Statement Position Statement
on Criminal Background Checks Approved
4/29/2005
The American Camp Association (ACA) is
committed to the physical and emotional
safety of children and youth. This commitment
is reflected in the education, training,
publications, and camp standards that ACA
provides. ACA believes that camps should
utilize multifaceted screening and hiring
programs and support practices appropriate
to the clientele, staffing, supervision
and program consideration of each camp.
An important aspect of any screening program
is biometric-based* criminal
background checks for all staff and volunteers
with access to children, youth, or vulnerable
adults. In order for camps to implement
effective biometric-based criminal background
checks, a reliable federal program must
be in place. ACA supports the establishment
of a comprehensive federal biometric-based
criminal background checking system that
is reasonable in cost, timely in response,
uniform in availability to camps across
the country regardless of sponsorship,
and consistent in the information provided
according to identical pre-determined indicators
of potentially harmful behavior.
In order
for a federal program to be viable, ACA
believes that states must mandate timely
reporting to the state of information held
at the county level, provide both county
and state data to the federal program in
a timely manner, mandate that checks be
done for all staff and volunteers with
access to children, youth, and vulnerable
adults, and provide assistance to camps
in accessing the system in a timely and
affordable manner.
Furthermore, ACA advocates
for the establishment of a coalition of
agencies and associations with similar
interests and concerns in order to promote
a national response to this critical issue.
* Data gathered
from a biological source unique to an individual
- possible examples include fingerprints
and retinal scans. |
