Dear Seacoast Family Promise Volunteer:

We want to thank you for your continued and tireless efforts in supporting the homeless families we serve.

As you know, Seacoast Family Promise strives to ensure a safe and family-friendly environment for our guests.  We are always looking for ways to improve our services and strive to be community leaders in providing safe settings for these homeless children and their parents. Therefore, the Board of Directors recently voted unanimously to approve a policy requiring background checks on all volunteers who work directly with our guests.

The decision to require background checks was based on three factors.  First, 90% of all cases of sexual abuse of children are perpetrated by an assailant that is known to the victim. This is why most other providers that serve children require background checks of their staff and volunteers.  Secondly, donors are now aware of the need for all social service programs that serve children to ensure they take every possible step to ensure child safety; background checks are considered part of that process. Failure to meet this requirement will cost us future financial support from these sources.   Finally, we serve homeless families because we want to protect children; requiring background checks on all of our volunteers will be one more way we can act to do this.

The new policy will work retroactively, so we will be completing criminal background checks on all current volunteers who have any direct contact with our guests.  From now on, all new volunteers will also be checked. Any volunteers who wish to offset the cost of their background check are invited to do so with a donation of $7.50 $10.00.

We want to thank you in advance for your assistance in this transition by completing your background check release form in a timely manner. Together, we will ensure a safe and family-friendly environment for the families we serve as we work to end homelessness.

Sincerely,

Seacoast Family Promise Board