Our CM Facility is not secure
Your Question:
“How can the CM survive, and flourish when it is not secure with no fences or barriers?”
The Issues:
For today’s parents, their children’s safety ranks equal to, or more important than what their children will learn while in the CM. Making the CM secure costs money and personnel. Restricting access may bother some people.
Scripture Foundation:
“Things that cause people to stumble are bound to come, but woe to anyone through whom they come. It would be better for them to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around their neck than to cause one of these little ones to stumble. So watch yourselves.” Luke 17: 1-3
Short Answer:
Gone are the days when a church could say regarding the safety of their children, “We don’t worry. We’re a loving church. Everybody knows each other. Nothing bad could ever happen here, God is with us.” Nobody may argue with you about your church being loving; and it’s great that everybody knows each other.
The threat to the children is not just “from within,” it is from outside. A wise shepherd is always on the lookout for wolves. His flock may be happy, loving, and they may all “know each other,” but it’s the wolf that threatens the sheep. Today’s “wolves” are bad people who would harm the children or those who are ministering to them. None of us should have to be convinced that the CM needs protecting!
One of the best ways to protect the children is to restrict access to them. This restriction comes in the form of a thorough screening process that every CM team applicant goes through, a strong set of safety and procedure policies, a rock-solid “Never Alone” rule for CM team members, hallway greeters/security personnel, a protective check-in and check-out system that guarantees that the children will only be picked up by those who have been cleared to do so, and restricted access to the CM once the service has begun. It is not difficult to design these restrictions (there are many documents that will help you in the “Developing CM Policies – APPENDIX”), it is more challenging to enforce them. “Holding the line” when someone wants to access the CM area during a service, after access has been closed, is often hard to do. Consistency, regardless of who the person is, is critical.
Preventing a parent from checking out a child without a check-out coupon or proper ID is hard to do, but it must be done consistently. A parent who is asked to either go get the check-out coupon/label or to provide ID that proves that he/she is not restricted from access to the child, will be frustrated at first but then will most likely thank you for protecting children. Setting strong barriers to accessing children must be done, but it must also be done with kind words. A frustrated parent will most likely respond with gratitude when he or she is reminded that you are doing all you can to protect his/her child. Smiles, together with consistent barriers produce a strong protection for the children. For more help, click on the “Developing CM Policies – APPENDIX” or on the “Djeveloping The CM Facility – APPENDIX” link below.
Visit other articles in the “Developing The CM Facility APPENDIX“
