4. SCREENING VOLUNTEERS
Screening volunteers is closely related to recruitment and to the service a volunteer will provide. Selection criteria for volunteers need to be established for each category of volunteer positions.
Volunteers may fill many functions in the program, including serving as the third person in the classroom, assisting in meal preparation, providing health education or services, typing or word processing, or assisting with budget preparation or long-range planning activities. It is important to define volunteer positions and to screen applicants accordingly.
REFERENCE TEXT CITATION
"HDS Position Statement on Volunteerism." HDS-IM-82-1, Office of Human Development Services, July 26, 1982.
Recruitment and Use of Volunteers:Volunteers may be used in any area of program administration or service delivery in which they have appropriate training and skills. This is true for all programs receiving Federal funds from or through the Office of Human Development Services.
4.2 Screening Volunteers to Help Safeguard Children from Disease
Volunteers who are in contact With children are, like staff in similar positions, subject to health screenings for communicable diseases. Agencies should check individual State regulations regarding health screenings. State requirements may mandate additional screening or tests, depending on local conditions. In most States, volunteers who assist with food preparation must meet the same health clearance standards as other food service staff.
REFERENCE TEXT CITATION
"Head Start Program Performance
Standards." 45-CER 1304, Health, Subpart
C--Health Services Objectives and
Performance Standards, November 1984.1304.3-3 Medical and dental history, screening, and examinations
(d) The plan shall provide, also, in accordance with local and State health regulations that employed program staff have initial health examinations, periodic check-ups, and are found to be free from communicable disease; and that volunteer staff be screened for tuberculosis.Related Performance Standards Guidance
(d) Staff and volunteers with respiratory infections, skin infections, or other types of communicable diseases should not have contact with the children.
Depending on conditions in the community, tuberculin testing, miniature chest X-rays, or full-size chest films may be the most economical forms of screening.
Tuberculin screening is not necessary for the occasional volunteer.
4.3 Screening Volunteers to Help Safeguard Children from Child Abuse and Neglect
In 1988, ACYF/OHDS issued revised regulations on screening potential Head Start employees for prior offenses of child abuse and neglect. Head Start agencies must revise their personnel policies in accordance with Final Rule 45-CFR 1301.31 and applicable State and local laws.
The rule itself does not specify its applicability to volunteers. However, as a consequence of comments received about the proposed rule, OHDS decided to give grantees the responsibility for extending these requirements for new employees to current staff and volunteers. Appropriate program management may dictate that regulations pertaining to a new staff also pertain to new volunteers. Individual States may have established more specific regulations in regard to volunteers, and programs should check State laws for additional' requirements. Grantees should be aware that Federal law supersedes State law where Federal moneys are concerned and should therefore minimally meet Federal standards.
The reference below includes an excerpt from the discussion of the final rule, followed by selections from the rule itself.
REFERENCE TEXT CITATION
"Final Rule on Head Start Program Personnel, Policies on Staff Recruitment and Selection." 45-CFR 1301, Subpart D, Federal Register, Vol. 53, No. 39, February 29, 1988.Supplementary Information:
III. Provisions of the Final Rule, Section 1301.31(c) Discussion
... Some commenters proposed that current staff and volunteers be included in [the requirement to sign the declaration] and others suggested they be excluded. The OHDS will allow each grantee to determine whether current staff and volunteers must sign the declaration. required of new employees by this rule.
1301.31 Personnel policies
(a) Head Start agencies must establish and implement personnel policies for themselves and their delegate agencies....(c) The policies must require that all prospective employees must sign a, declaration prior to employment which lists:
(1) All pending and prior criminal arrests and charges related to child sexual abuse and their disposition;
(2) Convictions related to other forms of child abuse and/or neglect; and
(3) All convictions of violent felonies.
(e) The policies governing recruitment and selection of staff-must require that before an employee is hired for a probationary period, the grantee or delegate agency will have conducted:
(1) An interview of the applicant, and
(2) A check of personal and employment references....
(g) (1) ...before staff are hired on a permanent basis, the grantee or delegate agency will have conducted a State and/or national criminal check if required by State law and/or administrative requirement.
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