to background check or not to background check

Is it important to background check age-friendly volunteers?   

A great question, with no simple answer! The background checking process can be a challenge for age-friendly communities due to cost and the administrative commitment.  Depending on the role volunteers play in your community work, a background check could be an important first step or something it’s safe to pass up.  

Ask yourself these questions - if you answer yes to any of them, a background check is probably a good idea for volunteers in those roles:

• Do volunteers work closely with people who are at a high risk of abuse or exploitation?

• Do volunteers have access to personal or sensitive information?

• Do volunteers work with the age-friendly organization’s finances or grant writing?

• Do any of your programs or funding streams require a background check?

Background checks can be an important tool for ensuring that people in your community aren’t inadvertently put at risk by engaging with age-friendly programming, and can also be a valuable way to proactively manage risk for your age-friendly initiative.

Read more about background checks and age-friendly volunteers. 

Exciting news for age-friendly communities in the Lifelong Maine network - we can now support you with offering background checks!  To learn more contact lifelong@maine.edu.