The purpose of the Policy Regarding Unaccompanied Minors is to provide appropriate protection and safety for minors who are involved in Ball State hosted activities taking place on the University campus, under the authority and direction of the University, at other locations or online.

All University employees, students, and volunteers participating in authorized activities involving unaccompanied minors (Activity) are required to follow the Policy Regarding Unaccompanied Minors.

This policy includes online and virtual activities. Please review the document Safe Contact and Privacy Rules online camps if applicable.

Requirements:

Although compliance with the entire policy is required, a brief description of the first steps is as follows:

 

The “activity leader,” the person in charge of an Activity, must ensure completion of the following three steps by everyone working the Activity prior to the start date. The activity leader is also required to review the Ball State University Important Guidelines for Authorized Activities Involving Unaccompanied Minors which compliments Section III of the policy.

An “unaccompanied minor” refers to someone age 17 or younger, who is left in the care of Ball State, not accompanied by a parent, guardian, or chaperone from an outside organization. e.g. troop leader, parent on field trip, teacher. This does not apply to enrolled Ball State students.

 

STEP I:             Complete Registration Form and attach Roster Form F

  • Complete Step #1 at least 30 calendar days before the first day of the Activity.
  • The “BSU Registration Form for Authorized Activities Involving Unaccompanied Minors” will be accessed via ServiceNow and routed to Office of Risk Management, Human Resources, and Career Center. You will be able to track your form’s progress.
  • If the roster requires additions or subtractions of names, please leave the original roster attached, and add a revised roster in ServiceNow as an additional attachment. Please notify Office of Risk Management (ORM@bsu.edu) if revisions are uploaded.

 STEP II:            Complete Background Check

  • The individuals on the roster will receive and must respond to an email from Human Resources or the Career Center requesting consent to run the background check.            

 STEP III:           Complete online EduRisk training

  • Click here and follow the instructions to access and complete the “Protecting Children: Identifying and Reporting Sexual Misconduct” training module.
  • If you do not have a bsu.edu email address (e.g. a community volunteer), a special link will be provided to the Activity Leader by the Office of Risk Management for access to the training.

Please note: For those participating in multiple activities per year, the online training & background check must be completed within the past 365 days. Users can log into the EduRisk training module at any time to view their training completion date.

 

The Activity Leader will receive email confirmation when all requirements are complete, and the Activity may proceed. Please remember, no one is permitted to interact with unaccompanied minors without successfully completing both the online training and background check prior to the Activity start date.

 

To view and edit submissions or respond to comments please click the link in the confirmation email or log in to ServiceNow using this link https://bsu.service-now.com/helpdesk?id=helpdesk_home and find the registration form in the top right hand corner under “My Requests”.

 

All University employees, even those who do not work directly with children, are encouraged to watch a short video called “Protecting Children: Shine a Light” as many minors frequent our campus for a variety of reasons.

 

If you have questions about this process, please contact the Office of Risk Management for assistance.  We are here to help all activity leaders comply with the Ball State University Policy Regarding Unaccompanied Minors.

 

MANDATORY REPORTING:  Every member of the Ball State University community has an obligation to immediately report instances, or suspected instances, of abuse or neglect of minors to Child Protective Services (CPS) with their 24 hr/7 days a week hotline at 1-800-800- 5556 and the Ball State University Police at 765-285-1111.

After making the report, it is encouraged that the individual/employee notify the individual’s/employee’s supervisor, appropriate administrators and/or the individual in charge of the program, area, division and/or institution. 

For more information please review: http://iga.in.gov/legislative/laws/2019/ic/titles/031#31-33-5

 

*Updated 1-25-21