Fingerprinted

Before coming to Christ I did a lot of things that I am not proud of. But last month was the first time in my life that I had to be fingerprinted.

If you are familiar with our church you will know that we follow a rigorous protocol for all of our children and youth ministries, part of which involves a screening process for all workers that includes mandatory police checks. Even though I don’t get to be involved a lot directly in our children’s or youth ministries, I have always felt it was important to go through the process and the training myself as well.

Anyway, Tracey called me back in August to remind me that mine and Florence’s police checks were going to ‘run out’ in a few weeks time and needed to be renewed. I thanked her for the reminder and we headed in that week to the police station to fill out and submit the forms. When we went to pick up the completed paperwork a week later however, I got a surprise. The girl behind the glass handed Florence her paperwork and then turning to me said, “I can’t give you yours.” And before I had any time to start wondering what was going on, she proceeded to tell me about a new policy that had just been enacted and this is how it works. If you are a male and there is any other male in Canada that was born on your birth date and has been convicted of a sexual offense, then the only way you can get a police check clearance is to be fully finger printed and to have those prints sent to Ottawa.

Well, what can I say? You gottta do what you gotta do. I had to pay $28.50 in cash and was led away to a back room where the young constable from Newfoundland proceeded to create two full sets of prints with my hands. It was a weird feeling. I know that I have not committed any type of offense that will see any repercussions from their search, but I have to tell you that it still felt kind of weird, almost like a violation of sorts. So, I just kept reminding myself that it was for a good and necessary cause. If the system prevents even one child from being abused then so be it.

And then as I was leaving, they dropped the other bomb and told me that it could take up to 4 months for it to come back!!! Now, that could create some real difficulties for our fall programs. So, if you’re reading this and you’re a children's worker or youth worker, don’t waste any time. Just keep reminding yourself that it is for a good and necessary cause – the safety of innocent little ones.