YSO Academy

The most important child protection decision you make happens before a staff member or volunteer ever interacts with a child. Your screening process is the first — and often most powerful — line of defense.

But effective screening is more than running a background check. This course walks you through every layer of a comprehensive screening process:

• Building a screening matrix tailored to your program's risk levels
• Designing applications that surface important information
• Understanding criminal records checks: what they show, what they miss, and how often to recheck
• Navigating child maltreatment registries
• Checking references effectively — and knowing what questions actually matter
• Conducting interviews that go beyond the resume

You'll also learn how to make defensible decisions about disqualifications, so that when you make a hard call, you can explain it clearly and consistently.

This is practical, immediately applicable guidance from attorneys who have spent decades advising youth organizations — and who have seen firsthand what happens when screening gaps go unaddressed.