Compliance Resources

Compliance Resources

OPCY is here to assist parishes and schools in their efforts to fulfill the child protection policies of the Archdiocese of Chicago as well as those of the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People.

(Español | Polski)

Office for the Protection of Children & Youth

Safe Environment Compliance Guidelines Chart, July 2021

 

Click here to view the PDF. 

Role CBC FP CANTS
689		 PGC & KPA or VAT MRT & CANTS 22/A ASB CC
Clergy: Priests, Deacons & Seminarians ✓   ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Candidates for ordination (seminarians and diaconate formation) ✓   ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓  
All Employees of Pastoral Center, Parishes & Agencies ✓   (✓)* ✓   ✓  
School Employees (Certified & Non-certified) ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓  
DREs/CREs, catechists, SPRED volunteers with minors, youth ministers, coaches, scout leaders ✓   ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓  

School volunteers, and all parish
volunteers who serve with children and/or youth

 ✓   ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓  
Ministers to vulnerable adults (SPRED volunteers, ministers of care, hospital visitors, etc.) ✓   (✓)* ✓ (VAT)   ✓  

 

CBC: Criminal background check run through VIRTUS online as part of the VIRTUS registration process. Rechecked every three years through VIRTUS. (Policy 603.2)

FP: Fingerprints run through Accurate Biometrics for the Archdiocese of Chicago. School employees may not begin work until fingerprints have been submitted. Schools have the necessary forms.

CANTS 689: Yearly check of the central registry of Department of Children and Family Services.
* Required only once for employees who do not work with children. (Policy 603.5)
English CANTS 689 Form | Spanish CANTS 689 Form

PGC: VIRTUS’s Protecting God’s Children training session. Register and attend within 15 days of beginning work or volunteering (Policy 603.3)

KPA: VIRTUS’s Keeping the Promise Alive three-year recertification program done online through Virtus (Policy 603.7)

VAT: VIRTUS’s Vulnerable Adult Training online training for those who minister solely to vulnerable adults. Replaces PGC.

MRT: Mandated Reporter Training from State of IL training website. Re-certified every three years, including re-signing the Acknowledgment Form (CANTS 22 or CANTS 22A for clergy). Certificates and signed forms are to be kept in file.  (Policy 603.6 and 603.7)

ASB: Archdiocesan Standards of Behavior for Church Personnel Working with Minors and Vulnerable Adults (formerly Code of Conduct). Read and signed at time of hire and re-acknowledged yearly through VIRTUS (Policy 603.4)
Archdiocesan Standards of Behavior (English)
Normas de Comportamiento Arquidiocesanas (Español)
Archidiecezjalne standardy zachowania (Polski)

CC: Critical Conversations, a VIRTUS program for clergy only. Recommended five years after ordination.

Student training: Every student in every grade in schools and religious education programs are to be offered training annually on sexual abuse prevention. (Policy 603.7)

Those under the age of 18 are unable to meet safe environment compliance requirements; therefore, they may not be in a supervisory role or in charge of minors.

Safe Environment compliance is a condition of employment and volunteer service. All compliance recordkeeping is to be verified and tracked within the Virtus System Database and reported in the Annual Audit.