SafetyNET Ending, Senate Bill on Background Checks In Play

SafetyNET Ending, Senate Bill on Background Checks In Play

March 23, 2011: As of March 31, the pilot program known as SafetyNET, which allows youth-serving organizations access to nationwide FBI background checks on potential volunteers and employees, will discontinue.

MENTOR, The National Mentoring Partnership (MENTOR) has administered SafetyNET since it was developed under the PROTECT Act of 2003. Organizations with volunteer applications that have resulted in a "does not meet" or "may not meet" fitness determination can still send MENTOR their requests for release of criminal history through June 30.

In an effort to create a permanent successor to SafetyNET, Senators Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Orrin Hatch (R-UT) introduced the Child Protection Improvements Act (S. 645) this past week. Sens. Sherrod Brown (D-OH), John Ensign (R-NV), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Mike Johanns (R-NE) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) also are original co-sponsors of this bipartisan legislation. The bill was referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee. It is expected to be reintroduced in the House in the coming weeks by Reps. Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Mike Rogers (R-MI).

Currently, only one-third of states allow access to FBI criminal records, and over the past seven years, data has proven the critical need for this information in ensuring that the volunteers and employees who would be in direct contact with children are suitable and safe.

"As The PROTECT Act Child Safety Pilot, SafetyNET has proven time and again that FBI searches provide information essential for screening youth-serving volunteers and employees. Of the nearly 100,000 volunteers screened during the pilot, more than 6 percent have criminal records of concern for serious crimes," said MENTOR's President and CEO Dr. Larry Wright. "Furthermore, more than 41 percent of individuals with criminal records of concern had committed crimes in states other than where they were applying to volunteer — meaning only a nationwide check would have caught the criminal records."

"It is essential that this bill pass immediately, and MENTOR is doing all we can to rally our youth-serving network to let Congress know how important this legislation is to the safety of our children," he said.

In the meantime, while they are not as comprehensive as the SafetyNET checks, a list of alternative options for conducting background checks in each state can be downloaded at www.mentoring.org/safetynet. To contact your Senators to ask for their support of S.645, click here