It is because of possibilities like this that my church started performing background checks on all children’s workers several years ago.
The background checks help with the insurers, but they are largely ineffective in protecting the children. I don’t have the numbers handy, but well over 90% of the offenders pass the check - they have no prior record.
The reaction of this church (denial, followed by attempts to get the parents to not prosecute) is not unusual, and the church probably does need to have a court-administered attitude adjustment.
“It is because of possibilities like this that my church started performing background checks on all children’s workers several years ago.”
Well here in lies a problem, the person who did it was a child too. How would one know if that child who is helping out could be a problem? Not like a 13 year old will be on a sex offender registry.