SAFE (Screening Applicants for Effectiveness) includes the latest in child molestation research, over 28 years of Friends for Youth experience with screening volunteers, and recommendations from leading experts like Carla Van Dam, Ph.D. (Identifying Child Molesters) and Sgt. Steve McEwan of the San Jose Police Department, trainer on child exploitation for California police officers.

Click here to order SAFE online!

Please visit our Trainings page for information on customized trainings we offer on SAFE and other topics.

If you have questions, please call (650) 559-0200 or email info@mentoringinstitute.org.

SAFE: Screening Applicants for Effectiveness

• Is your volunteer screening process strong enough?
  

• If something happened could you look back and defend your process?
  

Find out how to strengthen your

mentor applicant screening with SAFE.

Friends For Youth's Mentoring Institute is a leader in the field of Recommended Best Practices and now brings the resource Dr. Susan Weinberger, aka Dr. Mentor,  calls,

"One of the most comprehensive and scholarly publications that addresses the need to insure maximum protection for individuals involved in mentoring programs. The document will serve well to guide professionals in the field of mentoring.”

$25, 6” x 9”, 160 pages

ISBN: 978-0-9789107-6-1

To purchase SAFE

or if you have questions:

Are your screening processes thorough enough?

Going Beyond the Background Check, a new report on volunteer screening from the Mentoring Institute, provides data from youth-serving programs in San Mateo County. Using surveys from local programs, the report highlights successes and shortcomings of volunteer screening practices in the County. Going Beyond the Background Check also discusses the impact of SAFE Training, an essential component of the initiative.

Read the Executive Summary or the

Full Report to see how programs in San Mateo County are screening volunteers and what Friends for Youth’s Mentoring Institute is doing to support them!

Only 48% of youth-serving programs in San Mateo County perform a federal-level background check on volunteers who work with children. In one pilot study, 40% of applicants to mentor programs who had a criminal record were convicted in another state. By only checking in California, those 48% of San Mateo County programs may have missed about one-quarter of criminal convictions from other states.

In 69% of youth-serving programs in San Mateo County, staff intuition can automatically disqualify a volunteer applicant. “Informed intuition” is an essential component of volunteer screening. Programs that do not include staff intuition run the risk of allowing child molesters without prior criminal records connect with their clients. Gut feelings combined with knowledge of red flags are powerful tools for keeping children SAFE.

SAFE includes the latest in child molestation research, decades of Friends for Youth's experience with screening volunteers, and recommendations from leading experts like Carla Van Dam, Ph.D. (Identifying Child Molesters) and Sgt. Steve McEwan of the San Jose Police Department, trainer on child exploitation for California police officers.

Visit our Training page

for more information.

“People who molest kids come in any shape or form. It can be your next-door neighbor who you think is an upstanding citizen.”