Boy Scouts expand background screenings

By By Steve Gillespie / staff writer
Jan. 23, 2003
The Boy Scouts of America has expanded its volunteer screening system to check more thoroughly the possible criminal backgrounds of volunteers.
Keith Clifford, assistant scout master for Troop 40 in Meridian, is also a parent of a scout.
Earlier this month the Boy Scouts of America's National Executive Board selected an Internet-based background checking system that will be used to check new volunteer applicants against state and national databases. The system is called VolunteerSelect and it is run by a company called ChoicePoint.
Noel Evans, scout executive of the Choctaw Area Council, said the expanded volunteer screening is a natural progression.
Evans said volunteer applications will be reviewed by the council and all information provided from the background check will be considered. A copy will be provided to the applicant as well.
Clifford said the screening process, up to this point, has been primarily up to the charter organization that sponsors the individual troops, usually a church or civic organization, along with area council executives.
Use of the nationwide VolunteerSelect system is scheduled to begin April 1.
Clifford and Evans said the new volunteer application process now requires applicants to provide their Social Security numbers or driver's licenses number for the screening.
CHOCTAW AREA COUNCIL
The Choctaw Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America which includes Lauderdale, Newton, Neshoba, Clarke, Kemper counties in Mississippi, and Choctaw County, Ala. has 800 volunteers who work with about 5,700 young men. For more information, call the local Boy Scout Service Center at 693-6757 or visit www.cacbsa.org.