Starting a Youth Mentoring Program: 4 Screening

Introduction

Did you know every mentor and mentee who participate in your program will need to be screened based on established criteria? Setting up your screening process will take time, but keeping participants safe is worth it.

Screening mentors for safety is an obvious step—but screening them for commitment and to ensure a good fit for your program is just as important. This process is known as “screening for suitability.”

Curriculum

For Safety
Screening for Safety

Identifies individuals who would create an unacceptable risk if given unsupervised access to youth

Prevents placement of individuals who lack the time, judgment, or necessary skills and attitudes

Reduces liability

Rules out potentially dangerous individuals with a history of violent or exploitative behavior
For Suitability
Screening for Suitability

Ensures mentees and mentors are a good fit for your program and goals

Gauges the commitment level of the mentor, the mentee, and the mentee’s family

Allows you to determine whether participants are appropriate for your program based on your eligibility criteria
Step by Step
Step by Step

The screening process involves about eight steps. To create a robust screening process, you will need to develop materials, training sessions, processes, policies, and procedures to ensure you are consistent, diligent, and unbiased.

Step 1: Orientation session

Step 2: Application packet

Step 3: Formal interview and reference checks

Step 4: Criminal history and other record checks
*FBI check highly recommended by Elements of Effective Practice for Mentoring (4th edition)

Step 5: Interpreting results of record checks

Step 6: Additional screening mechanisms

Step 7: Pre-match training and moving toward the match

Step 8: Match supervision
Types of Checks

Types of Checks

Conducting a comprehensive criminal background check on volunteers is required because each type of check has limitations. A thorough background check reflects a quality program’s risk management and due diligence to ensure the safety of its mentees and mentors.

State criminal records

National criminal records

Fingerprint-based FBI background check

Sex offender registries

Child abuse registries

Driving records (when relevant)

Key

Less rigorous, not recommended
Required benchmark
Highly recommended
Key Traits
Key Traits

Look for four key traits in a prospective mentor:

Dependable (keeps commitments, shows up on time, follows through)

Adaptable (shows the ability to overcome adversity in his or her personal and/or professional life)

Respectful (adheres to program and family rules, interested in learning about the experiences of others, nonjudgmental)

Resilient (can handle common youth “testing behaviors” and is not particularly “rejection-sensitive”)
Red Flags
Red Flags

Be mindful of four red flags when screening prospective mentors:

Under-involvement with adults and over-involvement with children

History of being abused, neglected, or sexually victimized

Criminal record, even if seemingly unrelated to crimes against children

Applied—but was not accepted—at or “didn’t like” other local youth-serving programs
More
MENTOR Background Checks

National Sex Offender Registry

Nonprofit Risk Management Center

Risk Management for Mentoring Programs

SAFE (Screening Applicants for Effectiveness)

by Friends for Youth: Cooper, Arévalo, and Smith
Next Steps
- Learn more by reviewing “Standard 2: Screening” in Elements of Effective Practice for Mentoring (4th edition).
- Use your note-taking guide to list topics or questions about screening to discuss with your technical assistance provider. Remember to save your note-taking guide changes after each chapter.