Digitized record keeping benefits all parishes

August 13, 2024

The Diocese has launched a new, automated system for the safe environment program that makes life easier for parish staff and better protects confidential information for employees and volunteers.

And the new, improved system comes at no additional cost to parishes.

There are several benefits to the new system, which is why many dioceses across the country are shifting to an automated approach, said Eileen Valdez, diocesan director of Human Resources.

“The system provides more confidentiality of personal information, a more secure method for getting applications in; it’s faster; and the parish or school has immediate information about how the background check is flowing through the system,” she said. “This is a big service the Diocese offers to the parishes,” she added. 

“I am very much looking forward to getting it fully integrated here at Our Lady’s Immaculate Heart,” said Tom Primmer, director of faith formation at the Ankeny parish. “It has taken quite a bit of time to process the reports in the past and reaching out to all the people (who need background checks and safe environment training). Having it all automated will be a huge efficiency for our office processes.”

Parishes doing it on their own would need to manage the relationship with vendors who do the background checks and the safe environment training, and keep track of which employees and volunteers completed the process. Parishes would have to go through an annual electronic audit and an onsite audit every three or four years.

The service offered to parishes and schools by the Diocese saves time and resources that could be allocated to other ministries, Valdez said. 

Shortly after the U.S. bishops addressed the abuse crisis in 2002, dioceses across the country launched safe environment programs to educate Church employees and staff on how to prevent opportunities for abuse. Background checks were required and educational bulletins through Virtus were required to provide safe environments for children.

Since the safe environment program was launched, nearly 30,000 background checks have been completed for volunteers and staff. 

At Our Lady’s Immaculate Heart, there are 320 people associated with the faith formation program, and about 350 volunteers in total who need to have background checks and do safe environment training, Primmer said. With a turnover rate of about 20-25% every school year, the parish needs 60-80 new volunteers who need background checks and safe environment training.

“There’s quite a bit of savings when you think about it” with the new digitized approach, he said. There’s no shredding of confidential documents, printing costs, copier ink, or human resource time spent to do follow-ups.

Whereas it used to be that an employee or volunteer would complete a form that included one’s name and Social Security number, now they can use a computer program and do the application online. In doing so, their private information like their Social Security number isn’t sitting on a desk or in a file folder and passed from person to person.

Under the old, paper system, it could take weeks before a parish or school might learn that an employee or volunteer had something in their past that might disqualify them or limit their ability to serve in the parish or school. Under the new system, parish administrators can follow a dashboard to monitor the progress and results appear faster.

The Diocese began to implement an online approach a few years ago. It has taken time for all the old files of employees and volunteers to be scanned in so the entire system became digitized.

Background checks are completed every five years for longtime employees and volunteers. While parishes and schools pay $28 for each background check, there was no additional cost to them to shift the program to the online system thanks to parishioner contributions to the Annual Diocesan Appeal, which supports the safe environment program.