Due to the nature of the service provided the Organization shall actively screen all potential volunteers to ensure suitability.  In addition, this process ensures that volunteers pose no threat to the victims they will be serving. 

According to The Screening Handbook (Canadian Association of Volunteer Bureau and Centres, Ottawa 1996) screening is “a range of procedures and processes used by organisations to carefully scrutinise individuals who apply for such positions in order to choose the best candidates and to weed out, as far as possible, those who would be incompetent or who would do harm”.  Furthermore, screening “continues throughout the length of an individual’s work with an organization”.

People who indicate an interest in volunteering for the Organization need to be screened and interviewed before being accepted into the training program.  Character qualities to look for are dependability, maturity, stability to fulfill  commitments, ability to take direction, good judgement, the ability to remain calm in the face of crisis, the ability to put the needs of others first and comfort in dealing with a wide variety of people.  Special attributes of value to the service are knowledge of different languages, cultures and other special skills.  Under this premise, the initial screening process involves the following:

All applicants must provide the Program & Volunteer Coordinator with a  minimum of two personal references.  References are expected to have  known the applicant for a minimum of one year in some professional  capacity i.e. employer, instructor, professor, other volunteer position.

Family members are not acceptable as references.  All references will be  asked a standard set of questions with their answers recorded on the reference check form.  This shall be filed and remain in the volunteer’s personnel file.

Our Organization works with vulnerable members of our community, and in order to ensure the integrity of the program and the safety of our clientele all volunteers are required to produce an acceptable criminal reference check prior to placement in the Organization.  It is the applicant’s responsibility to fill out such form in an honest and accurate manner, and to submit it to us for processing.  Failure to submit the completed form will result in an incomplete and void application.

The Program & Volunteer Coordinator will review the processed form and all information on it will remain confidential. The acceptance of any applicant is a matter of judgement - if there are doubts about an applicant, final judgement may be deferred to the Executive Director. In all cases, the comfort and security of the client will be the determining factor.