At First UU Church, the health and safety of children and youth is fundamental to our Religious Education program.  While First Church has yet to adopt an official Safe Congregations Policy (although we are working on changing that), our DRE and RE Committee are committed to operating under the principles of Safe Congregations policy with all children and youth at First Church.  This includes the following guidelines:

• Requirement that all children and youth who participate in RE must be annually registered with complete information shared regarding allergies, health care information, and other pertinent information about children and youth’s health and safety needs.
• Visible first aid kits are available in all RE classrooms for minor scrapes and bruises.
• Children under the age 14 will not be released from childcare or RE class until a previously approved adult arrives to pick them up.  
• All individuals who work with children and youth undergo a background check.
• No adult will ever be alone with an individual child or youth including motor vehicles.  If a class has one child/youth present, the adult is required to leave the door completely open. No adult should contact children or youth outside the congregation except for in the case of a DRE-approved RE function. A child/youth’s parent/guardian must be aware/included that this contact is occurring.
• Children and youth may not attend any off-site fieldtrips without a First Church permission slip.
• Parents/guardians are required to pick up their child(ren)/youth in a timely manner in the case an emergency occurs in their absence.