[Community_garden] Background checks on volunteers

[Jeannie Wills]

Patsy and Adam - I haven't posted before but I do have some input on this. There is excellent info out there regarding safety precautions for children and vulnerable adults. I hear you, Adam, about the detriment to 'community building' if background checks were required - I also understand Patsy's concerns for safety. There is NO general pedophile 'profile'. In fact stats bear out the fact that most molestation etc is done by someone known to the child - scout leader, church leader, family member/acquaintance etc and often involves a 'grooming' process to gain the child's trust. To assume that a person can identify an abuser places children at greater risk. Working in teams - minimum of 2 adults with children at all times; great awareness of who is on the premises with 'team leaders' in charge of that accountability is a basic beginning strategy for providing a safe environment for all. Working in community gardens in my community, we always make sure we work in crews no
 matter which part of the city we might be in, whether there are children present or not. This is NOT just an 'inner city' issue.  Thanks, Patsy, for having this issue on your radar.  Jeannie from KY

adam36055 at aol.com wrote:   Welcome to America - land of background checks for volunteers, even in, it seems, community gardens.

As a parent in NYC, I kept my eyes open for the usual pedophile types when raising my son, and shoo'ed off my share of drag-nasties when they hung out too close to the sandbox (they tended to throw their crack vials and syringes into the sand when the cops came around.) 
However, community gardens are often places where folks who are not permitted to make contributions elsewhere are accepted - many of whom are homeless, ex-convicts, illegal aliens, or are "of color," and don't talk in the carefully middle-class tones of a Condolezza Rice. 

Background checks would turn discourage these folks from working in community gardens, a place where many re-enter, or enter society and help us all build community. 

Certainly, I'd keep my eyes peeled for aberrant behavior, and yes, the odd sociopath might get involved in the group from time to time, I mean, community gardens are no different in that extent from the US House of Representatives, for example. 

But background checks for volunteers in community gardens would have an unecessarily chilling effect on building community in neighborhoods where many folks have been incarcerated ( usually poor, and of color) and using community gardens to rehabilitate folks who have made mistakes in the past. 

Best wishes, 
Adam Honigman


-----Original Message-----
From: patsysavon at swbell.net
To: community_garden at list.communitygarden.org
Sent: Sun, 22 Apr 2007 11:01 PM
Subject: [Community_garden] Background checks on volunteers


There has been some discussion in our community garden as to "background checks" 
for all its volunteers. Many members have had backgrounds checks performed on 
them when working with other agencies. We conduct several monthly children tours 
and other community events. We are wondering how other gardens are handling 
this situation. 

Thank you for your input.
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