Information, Resources and Updates for KidCheck Users
Check Out Policy
I am sure there is no hard and fast answer to this but I am guessing you guys did some research on this as you were developing this system so I thought I would ask.
At what age should we allow students to check themselves in and out?
A little background, our church has an average Sunday attendance of around 500. Our Sunday attendance in Children's ministry is usually around 125 (ages 0-12). We will have three check-in stations. One at the entrance to the nursery, preschool and elementary wings. Our older children usually just leave once class is over.
In general what are your practices/what has your research shown? Should we require parents to drop off and pick up their children that are 12, 11, 10, etc. Should we let parents decide that? All thoughts and ideas would be great.
At what age should we allow students to check themselves in and out?
A little background, our church has an average Sunday attendance of around 500. Our Sunday attendance in Children's ministry is usually around 125 (ages 0-12). We will have three check-in stations. One at the entrance to the nursery, preschool and elementary wings. Our older children usually just leave once class is over.
In general what are your practices/what has your research shown? Should we require parents to drop off and pick up their children that are 12, 11, 10, etc. Should we let parents decide that? All thoughts and ideas would be great.
Tags: Best Practices, Check Out
Views: 9
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Alex Smith on -
At what age should we allow students to check themselves in and out?
This is kind of a loaded question & really depends more on geography & your church's policies than anything else. In general, you wanna pick an age range where kids are self reliant enough to fend for themselves. At our church, we require check-in and have an attendant (a member of our security team) to match check-in receipt codes for check-out through 5th grade. For us though, this was more based on having a separate class for 6th grade and higher (jr. high & high school classes) so it was easy to enforce the check-out policy for the younger kids.
But like I said, to determine the right age for self check-out is really going to be based on a lot of individual church factors cause what works for us may not work for you.
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Permalink Reply by Troy Marshall on -
Chris
We are the same size church and have the same set up as you. For security purposes, we check out 100% of all our children. We are liable for all kids checked in to our system and need to formally hand over responsibility back to a legal guardian. As you continue to grow, this will become a larger issue. My suggestion is to start it ASAP before it bites you.
Just my perspective-
Troy
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Permalink Reply by Stacey French on -
Hi Chris,
We also check out 100% of our children. I as i mentioned in another forum, I have 3 experiences where a non custodial parent came to "take" and I mean take a child out of church. After our first experience (during a Christmas performance) We formulated a security plan with the security team and ushers. As our church grew, we began to have hall monitors. This came about after the 2nd incident. At the time, during service the halls were empty. A dad walked in-no one knew because no one was in our front hall- he walked down to the children's wing and asked my preschool teacher for a child. As the only God can....I "happened" to go in the hall at the same time. I am pleased to say our security system worked well BUT it shook us up! So NOW we have hall monitors. And believe it or not there was a 3rd incident! We have a church of 600-700 members with 150 children as well. We are located in a lovely community in Westchester Co, New York. White Plains is an affluent area as well. I say all this to say, safety has no socio-economic line and people try to take kid - whether they are just a creep or non custodial parent. It is sad to say but for the safety of the children and your church, I would immediately check the children out. Better sooner than later. A side note, one day a child slipped by me during dismissal. When the mom came to get him I went into full blown react mode. Our security and parking guys are amazing and the church was locked down in mins. When we found the child (outside in the parking lot!) and I gave him back to his mom, I was shaking from head to toe. I am one of those people who are great in crisis and completely meltdown after. Well someone came over to me and started to have a conversation with me....needless to say I was in no shape to talk. When I asked them to give me a few mins they said "the kid is safe - get over it" Well, Chris, I can tell you this - when you think you lost a child on your watch....you never get over it...and nor should you. It makes us very aware of the seriousness that we need to have when caring for other peoples children. Sorry to be so long winded -Pentecostal can't help it. This issue is very dear to me you see my children's father tried to take them when they were little. I know how fast and easy it can happen. And no matter where you live ... it happens.
Serving His Kids with Joy
Stacey
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Permalink Reply by Keisha Reid-Paschall on -
This was an awesome account of issues that you have had. We have a small church (it is a church plant that is just turning 2) I have had a max of 30 kids, and we are just starting to use the system. I have been relaxed in enforcing the check out process. I know a great majority of the kids and parents (our pastoral team makes up the majority of the kids). This has encouraged me to start being strict on the check out process!
Thanks for sharing.
Keisha
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