Creating a Safe Nursery & Preschool Ministry

By: Christi Taylor
Published: 2011-07-02

It was the fall of 2006 when my family was visiting a church for the first time. We arrived a little early to find the nursery and get our 20-month-old son properly checked-in and secure before the service started. As we entered the nursery, my husband and I looked around to find some clue as to what to do next. We noticed a few ladies sitting in one of the nursery classrooms, but no one popped their head out to direct us.

Finally, another lady wondered through the nursery and offered to take our son into a different (empty) room for the one year olds. She said she wasn't the teacher, but she would be glad to stay with him until the nursery workers arrived. Now if we hadn't been long-time church-goers, I would have immediately refused her offer and marched my family right back to our car. And who would blame me, not wanting to leave my child with some random person walking by? But as the prospective pastor and family visiting the church incognito, we accepted the lady's offer and headed for the sanctuary.

Sadly, this is not so uncommon of a scenario for church nurseries (and we weren't even at a small church!) The common misconception is that everyone knows everyone, so the children are safe in our nursery. But in a day and time when the nightly news and newspapers are filled with stories of child molestations, kidnappings, and child abuse (and often by people they know), we can't be too careful. Parents research their babysitters, daycare centers, and preschools with the intensity of an FBI agent. Why would we think they would be willing to throw caution to the wind, just because they are at a church?

So you want to attract new families with young children to your church? Then you have to get out of that "everyone knows everyone" mentality and look at your nursery and preschool area as if you were the outsider. What do newcomers see when they enter your nursery? What kind of security measures are in place to ensure that the children in your care are safe? More importantly, do parents "feel" comfortable leaving their children in your care? And finally, is it a warm and friendly place?

This article is designed to address these questions and give you a few quick tips on making your nursery, preschool and children's areas safe and to help make your parents feel secure.

1. What do people see when they enter your nursery?

Take an objective look at the nursery. Is it clean and neat or is there junk piled around? As regulars, we often overlook the broken toys or the stack of old Sunday School material that has been sitting in the corner for years, but the newcomers will see these things right away. You may even want to invite a friend or "non" church member with nursery age kids to come and evaluate the room. Ask her what she sees when she enters the nursery. It may mean a new coat of paint or a "clean up" day, but that is a minimal cost to pay to create a good first impression.

2. What kind of security measures are in place?

As I mentioned earlier, this is EXTREMELY important to today's parents. Here are some tips you can use to make your nursery a safe place.

Safe Workers

Conduct criminal background checks for all nursery workers. This requires first having your workers complete an authorization for a background check form. You will want to run more than just a local check, since they may have a record in another county or state. There are some online sites that claim they will conduct national background searches for "free," but I haven't found one that will give you much more than basic information without a fee. There are also commercial companies like LexisNexis Risk Solutions, which will run national checks for around $6.50/person.
Require a 6-month waiting period before new members can keep nursery. This gives you a chance to get to know your members. Also experts agree that most pedophiles will typically not "hang around" that long when looking for prey.
Make your nursery workers easily identifiable by having them wear ID badges or smocks or some other identifiable apparel. This will let parents know that they are giving their child to an "approved" nursery worker, and not just some person walking by.

Safe Children

Set up a child check-in/check-out system. This can be as easy as a sign in and out sheet for the children as they are dropped off and picked up. Or like some church software programs, when you check in a child using ChurchTrac Software, the program automatically checks the child in and allows you to print an ID tag with a random security ID number for the child and the parent. The parent (or other authorized adult) must then present the matching ID tag to pick up the child.
Make note of any allergies. Write it on masking tape or something, but allergy stickers are a must. When you check a child in using ChurchTrac, you can make note of any allergies and/or other special needs that will print out on their ID tags. It is also good to post a list of snacks you will be feeding the children, so parents can be aware and/or send their own snacks.
Make note of people authorized/not authorized to pick up the child. You need to make special note of people authorized and NOT authorized to pick up the child. This can be a concern for parents facing custody issues. ChurchTrac can print an attendance list each week with this information for the nursery workers and teachers to consult during pick up time.
Collect parent contact information. In case of an emergency, you need to be able to contact the parent. Many churches use a pager system. But that can be expensive to purchase. With cell phones being so prevalent, why not just have the parent leave a cell number as the contact information? In case of an emergency (or when backup is needed,) ChurchTrac can send a text to the parent's cell phone to let them know of the child's situation.

Safe Place

Make sure there are at least 2 nursery workers in each room. This provides accountability for the workers and allows the extra worker to help with taking children to the bathroom or addressing other emergencies.
Have windows either looking into the rooms themselves or in the doors. Once again this provides accountability and reassures parents who want to discretely check on their children, that they are happy and safe.
Lock/protect main nursery access during service times. Many nurseries have a buzzer system to allow people into the nursery area or a manned welcome station to let people in. This will provide protection from people who may "wander in" off the street.

3. Is the nursery a warm and friendly place?

I just love Disney World, because "It's the Happiest Place on Earth." I'm not talking about the guests there, but the employees ALWAYS have smiles on their faces and are ALWAYS willing to help. After watching a Disney employee stand with a SMILE on his face in 90 degree plus heat waiting for a huge crowd to pass so he could empty a trash can of all things, I was convinced. Disney must have spies wandering through their parks looking for employees who aren't smiling and fire them on the spot.

Are your nursery workers happy and helpful? You may just have a small nursery, but you need someone to greet new people (and even us regulars) as they come in and show them the ropes. You may not have a designated greeter desk, but at least have someone step out of the room or invite your newcomers in. That friendly smile and helpful attitude will go a long way in sharing the love of Jesus with new families and in making them feel secure about leaving their precious children in your care.

My husband was called to be the pastor of the church we were visiting that day. And as we began our ministry there, God laid on our hearts to "update" our nursery policies and procedures. But even now, we periodically go back and re-evaluate our nursery using these criteria--we try to see our policies and practices from a first-time guest's point of view. This is a necessity for any church who wants to effectively minister to families with small children.