New Jersey Ordinance Requires Background Checks for Volunteers.

The Pemberton Township in New Jersey has passed a new ordinance requiring all volunteers to be screened for criminal backgrounds before working with youth teams and clubs.

The ordinance specifies that a check must be done on “any adult involved with sporting activities, passive recreation groups, clubs or camps, trips or other activities whereby some control and responsibility for children under the age of 18 is assigned to some person other than a parent or caregiver.” The Achilles-heel of the ordinance, though, is that it covers only groups that use property owned by the township or the school district and groups that are funded by the township, which, sadly, leaves a lot left-out.

The biggest plus of this plan, though, is that the Township itself is covering half of the $36 required to run the required checks, which could have been the KO punch for some already floundering after-school programs. In addition, for the first year, the Meghan Kanka Foundation has agreed to cover the remainder of the cost.

The Meghan Kanka Foundation was started by the family of Megan Kanka, the Hamilton Township 7-year-old who was raped and murdered by a convicted sex offender. Megan's Law, which created a statewide sex offender registry, is named for Megan Kanka.