The Manifesto Club has the interesting story of a flower arranger at a church in England who refused to undergo a criminal records check so she could continue with her work. This is just one example of the continuing intrusion of the State into daily life where no reasonable cost-benefit analysis is done.
I had to undergo a costly criminal record check and fingerprinting just to accompany my sons on a school outing canoe trip down a local river, so I'm sympathetic to Annabel Hayter and others standing up to this nonsense.
Yes, but if some parent molests a child on a school outing - and he has a prior record - the school will get sued because "they should have known."
ReplyDelete(I just had to do the same thing to attend a field trip here in the states.)
Keith, may be so but not relevant to an elderly lady filling vases with flowers at a time of day when children are in school.
ReplyDeleteAlso, is there a recorded case of a 60 year old woman "interfering" with a 6 year old child?
Samphire:
ReplyDeleteSo you agree that it is relevant in Jeff's case?
Because it is not relevant in one case does not mean that it is not a good idea in *any* case.
Sorry to answer my own post, but in my experience many of these background checks are forced by the insurance company as a condition for getting liability insurance.
ReplyDeleteThis has nothing to do with the State,
ReplyDeletebut rather CYA from lawsuits and the
like, which are civil matters.
Churches, in particular, have
been hit hard by various scandals and
lawsuits, so are very sensitive to
the possibility of having something
pop up in somebody's background.
Of course, uniform application of the standards are required.
John -
ReplyDeleteYou're wrong - at least in Ontario, where it is now a legal requirement that you get fingerprinted and checked if have anything to do with kids at a school.
You were specifically talking about a church.
ReplyDeleteWe also have required FBI background checks
in the US for various types of jobs, including
anything to do with children or with money.
So what is your point? It may be absurd to be
giving some old lady working as a church volunteer
the 3rd degree. On the other hand, there are a lot
of nutjobs out there.