Study: Many churches use background checks. What about abuse training?

Pursuant to the notorious events with Jerry Sandusky, Pennsylvania has some pretty strict laws that require both background checks and training for anyone who has regular contact with minors (Sunday school, nursery, youth sports, I'd suspect even regular field trip chaperones fall under the umbrella).

1. Background check with the PA Department of Human Services.
2. Background check with PA State Police.
3. Either an affidavit that you've lived in PA for 10+ years or a fingerprint check with the FBI.
4. Mandatory online training, about 3 hours.

This has to be renewed every 5 years.

The 3-hour training is positively awful. The online course design is impossible to read through quickly; it will ensure that you are there the full three hours. It started pretty bad: it all boils down to, "You have no discretion; if you have any reason to suspect a problem, report it to child line." Then they layered in a "check your prejudices" component (during some update to the training), which became embarrassingly convoluted. Apparently, they don't want certain demographics to be overreported against. But that doesn't jibe well with the overall message, "You have no discretion, just report any suspicions."

Keep in mind that in PA, a church volunteer is required to report suspected abuse if, for example, they expect that a visitor's child is being abused at home or something...not just problems at the church. Mandatory reporter means mandatory reporter, period.

It's an important topic; it's worth getting some awareness training. But of course it comes down to church leadership having the character to enforce certain precautions and making sure that volunteers know that yes, the leaders are engaged and monitoring. The training video leaves you feeling pretty discouraged.