St. Francis de Sales and the Diocese of Grand Rapids have a strong commitment to supporting healthy ministry to children and youth and take seriously the safety and well being of all children in every aspect of their lives. When you entrust us with their care, we strive to provide a protective environment in which they will be safe. For this reason all volunteers are required to participate in safe environment training, read and agree to abide by our Standards of Ministerial Behavior in Dealing with Children & Young People, and we perform a background check on each adult volunteer and employee regularly are entrusted with unsupervised contact with a child, the elderly, or persons with disabilities.
Interested in working with children or have been sent here by one of our staff to learn more about working with youth? You will need to print, complete, and return the two forms available in the "Screening & Forms" section to the parish office. You will also need to take part in our safe environment training called "Protecting God's Children Awareness."
For more information contact Ricardo Valdez, Director of Family and Adult Faith Formation, in the parish office (616-392-6700).
Required Safe Environment Training
All volunteer and paid Church personnel (clergy, religious and lay people) who regularly are entrusted with unsupervised contact with a child, the elderly, or persons with disabilities are required to attend a three hour training called "Protecting God's Children Awareness" provided by the Diocese of Grand Rapids through a resource called Virtus. The training is geared toward preparing volunteers to learn appropriate boundaries while serving children and youth within the parish and how to prevent and detect child abuse. Volunteers have the option of attending a live training at a nearby location or completing a SE ONLINE TRAINING thru Virtusonline.org. PLEASE NOTE: EDUCATORS AND EMPLOYEES ARE STILL REQUIRED TO TAKE LIVE VIRTUS SESSIONS.
Next Live Session:
LIVE TRAINING REGISTRATION: To register for a live training session at St. Francis de Sales or a nearby location please follow the steps below:
- Visit www.virtus.org
- On the left side of the page, in the green column, click on the word “Registration” (in yellow font)
- Click on “View a list of sessions”
- Click in the box stating “Select your organization”
- Scroll down to “Grand Rapids, MI (Diocese) and click on it
- Click “Select”
- Click “Select”
- to attend a Live Sessions - Scroll down the page to see the locations
- Go to the top of the page and click the “Start Registration” box
- Complete each step for the registration
ONLINE TRAINING REGISTRATION: Online Virtus training consists of 13 short segments - 1 hour each. Each segment may be paused at any time during the process, and come back later to complete. The training will resume where it was left off. Volunteers will be asked to answer a single question correctly at the end of each segment. To register for an ONLINE Training session, please follow the steps below:
- Visit www.virtusonline.org
- Click on First-time Registrant.
- Click the green arrow to begin the registration process.
- Click in the box stating “Select your organization” by scrolling down to “Grand Rapids, MI (Diocese) and click on it
- Create an account.
- When you get to the list of live training sessions, the ONLINE Training options will be listed first on the top of the list.
- Click the online training of your choice - English or Spanish.
This training is for adults who volunteer with children and youth through our parish ministries. All parents are encouraged to participate in this training as it informs and trains adults about how to prevent and protect children from situations that could lead to abuse and how to detect and handle situations of abuse.
Required Documents
All volunteers and paid Church personnel (clergy, religious and lay people) who regularly are entrusted with unsupervised contact with a child, the elderly, or persons with disabilities are subject to a criminal history background check and required to read and sign that they have read and understand the Standards of Ministerial Behavior in Dealing with Children & Young People.
#1 Background Check Authorization
Please use the links below to access and print the authorization form. Complete the form and return to the parish office in a sealed envelope noting that it contains a background check authorization form. All sensitive information is kept confidential and safely locked away.
Print, complete, return - English | Español
#2 Standards of Ministerial Behavior in Dealing with Children & Young People
Please use the links below to access and print the document. The signed document can be returned to the parish office. You can include it in the same envelope as the background authorization form.
Print, read, sign, return - English | Español
San Francisco de Sales y de la Diócesis de Grand Rapids tienen un fuerte compromiso con el apoyo del ministerio saludable para los niños y los jóvenes tomando en serio la seguridad y el bienestar de los niños en todos los aspectos de sus vidas. Cuando usted nos confía su cuidado, nos esforzamos por ofrecer un entorno de protección en el que estarán a salvo. Por esta razón se requiere que todos los voluntarios para participen en el entrenamiento de ambiente seguro para niños y jóvenes, leer y estar de acuerdo con nuestras estándares del comportamiento ministerial en el trato con la niñez y la juventud, y llevan a cabo una verificación de antecedentes de cada voluntario adulto que trabaja con niños.
Personas interesadas en trabajar con niños o personas recomendadas por nuestro personal para aprender más acerca de cómo trabajar con los jóvenes, tendrán que imprimir, llenar y devolver las dos formas disponibles en la sección "Detección y las formas" a la oficina parroquial. Usted también tendrá que participar en nuestro entrenamiento de ambiente seguro denominado "Protegiendo a los Niños de la conciencia de Dios."
Entrenamiento Requerido
Todo los voluntarios y el personal de la Iglesia (sacerdotes, religiosos y laicos) que regularmente están encargados de contacto sin supervisión con un niño, los ancianos o las personas con discapacidad son requeridos asistir a un entrenamiento de tres horas llamado "Protegiendo a los Niños de la conciencia de Dios" proporcionada por el Diócesis de Grand Rapids a través de un recurso llamado Virtus. La capacitación está dirigida a la preparación de voluntarios para aprender los límites apropiados, mientras que atienden a niños y jóvenes dentro de la parroquia y la forma de prevenir y detectar el abuso de menores. Por favor, utilice los enlaces de abajo para encontrar una próxima sesión y registrar.
Próximas sesiones | Pre-registro / registro
Documentos Requeridos
Todo los voluntarios y el personal de la Iglesia (sacerdotes, religiosos y laicos) que regularmente están encargados de contacto sin supervisión con un niño, los ancianos o las personas con discapacidad están sujetos a una verificación de antecedentes penales y la obligación de leer y firmar los Estándares del comportamiento ministerial en el trato con la niñez y la juventud.
#1 Verificación de Antecedentes de Autorización
Utilice los siguientes enlaces para acceder e imprimir el formulario de autorización. Complete el formulario y devuélvalo a la oficina de la parroquia en un sobre cerrado señalando que contiene un formulario de autorización de verificación de antecedentes y el nombre "Ricardo Valdez", quien es nuestro coordinador de Ambiente Seguro para Niños y Jóvenes. Toda la información se mantiene confidencial y segura bajo llave.
Imprimir, llenar, volver - English | Español
#2 Estándares del comportamiento ministerial en el trato con la niñez y la juventud
Utilice los siguientes enlaces para acceder e imprimir el documento. El documento firmado puede ser devuelto a la oficina parroquial. Usted puede incluirlo en el mismo sobre que el formulario de autorización de antecedentes.