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HOW YOU CAN OBTAIN AN STORY ANGLES The National Foundation to Prevent Child Sexual Abuse (NFPCSA) was founded by Jody Gorran in 1996 to promote legislation to allow organizations that provide services to children, to have access to fingerprint-based, national criminal history records of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. By allowing organizations to be able to obtain FBI fingerprint checks of their volunteers and employees, the organizations would be able to screen out individuals with relevant criminal records. Jody Gorran originated the Volunteers for Children Act which was signed into law by President Clinton in October of 1998. 1. The need for FBI Fingerprint Checks in helping prevent child sexual abuse According to the NFPCSA, recent retrospective studies of adults suggest that 1 of 3 girls and 1 of 6 boys will be subjected to some form of sexual abuse by age 18. These studies further indicate that 46% of child molesters are non-family members who are known to their victims. The NFPCSA contends that sexual predators are generally unrecognizable to the community and parents of children. Child molesters who are known to their victims are frequently trusted adults in the community, like teachers, scoutmasters, coaches, day care workers, volunteers and employees of other youth serving organizations, clergy, friends of the family, and neighbors. These are the people with whom we entrust our children on a daily basis. Gorran asks, "Can every parent spend time to personally get to know every single adult that provides services for their children -- every day and for every extra-curricular activity? Think about it. How many people would that be? And, if you did have the time to get to know all of them VERY well, would you know if that person had a criminal history of child molestation? And what if they came from another state. How would you know? Would they tell you? I doubt it." According to Gorran, child predators are very cunning. They may spend up to a year "grooming" their victims; that may include becoming good friends with the intended victims' parents. Gorran believes the odds are very good that there are volunteers and employees in your community sexually molesting your children or your child's friends. Why does he believe this? "Because most child victims do not tell," says Gorran. Since child sexual abuse victims rarely tell, the NFPCSA believes that organizations and parents must have the ability to protect these children. The NFPCSA further believes that parents MUST have the right to at least know that any adult with a relevant criminal history will be prevented from being placed in a position where they can establish a trusting relationship with their children.
Wouldn't you like to prevent someone like this from coaching your child's sports team or leading your child's scout troop? 2. The need for FBI Fingerprint Checks in helping protect the elderly and disabled. If you have a friend or relative who are either elderly or disabled and being taken care of by a caregiver who is a non-relative, would you like to be confident that the caregiver does not have a relevant criminal history record with the FBI? Can you imagine what the consequences might be otherwise? 3. The need for FBI Fingerprint Checks by employers, especially after 9/11 The vast majority of employers in this country have no idea that there is a little-known way by which they can obtain an FBI Fingerprint Check of any prospective or current employee. In these times of terrorism, identity theft, employee theft and workplace violence, shouldn't all employers obtain FBI Fingerprint Checks of all prospective or current employees? And what about the issue of "Negligent Hiring"? If an employer "could" have known of an employee's criminal conviction record, shouldn't he have known, before that employee victimized someone else? 4. Why has so little happened since the Volunteers for Children Act became law in 1998? Unfortunately, the Federal Bureau of Investigation has dragged their feet for the past four years waiting for even more federal legislation before properly implementing the Volunteers for Children Act so that organizations that provide services to children, the elderly or the disabled could obtain FBI Fingerprint Checks of their volunteers and employees. Due to the stubbornness of the FBI in refusing to simply follow the Volunteers for Children Act, they prefer to exist in the past and do as THEY please and so today only a handful of states have fully implemented the Volunteers for Children Act and have a program in place that organizations can take advantage of. INTERVIEW QUESTIONS
1. How did you get involved in these various issues revolving around FBI Fingerprint Checks? BIO: Jody Gorran
Originator of the Volunteers for Children Act which became federal law in 1998
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