Senate Bill 321 is working its way through the Ohio Legislature. The bill would require all Ohio day and overnight camps to perform background checks on their staff.

Senator Stivers is the sponsor of the bill whose introductory paragraph reads:
…to require a criminal records check conducted by the bureau of criminal identification and investigation to be completed for each employee of a residential camp and to require a social security number criminal records check to be completed for each volunteer of a residential camp.

Already the state welfare department is doing checks on camps, though they have little power to enforce background checks.

An article from the July 6, 2008 Columbus Dispatch states:

“We are putting a structure into place where we can levy fines and work with the attorney general’s office to collect fines,” he said.

The department polled 96 of the 250 or so children’s day camps, 70 more than it checked last year, and found that 42 percent hadn’t conducted the background checks.

Read the full article here.

Massachusetts and at least four other states already require background checks. Ohio looks to join these states by next summer.

Though your state may not require background checks for counselors, making that investment is a proactive move you should consider.