System for checking in & out of church nursery?

[ourbabygirl]

So I thought about this again this morning as we went to church with DD and considered putting her in the church nursery during mass. She's at a very squirrely age and even w/books, snacks, you name it, she won't sit still with us in the pew for very long. DH usually eventually takes her out and lets her run around for quite a while (he watches & chases after her), but I don't like that he's not getting anything out of church then. However, he doesn't really trust the church nursery, and neither do I. In both the churches we attend, there's no real safe & secure system for keeping the kids there and making sure they don't just get picked up by anyone/ heaven forbid, a child abductor. All they make you do is sign in on a sheet, put a piece of masking tape on your kid with their name on it, and leave. This may work fine for an older kid (3, 4, 5) who knows who their parents are and knows not to go with strangers, but why would they be in the nursery and not in church/ pre-school with their parent(s), anyhow? What's to keep a kidnapper from going in and picking up your kid? The parents would never know if they're back in church. I really wish they had a more secure system where they take your license, or SOMETHING so it's pretty guaranteed that it's only the parents that can pick up their kid.
At the one church we attend, there are rarely many kids in the nursery, but it's only a few steps from an emergency/ handicapped exit, so I worry about that. At the other church, where we were today, there are usually SO MANY kids in there that (as DH said today), the people (usually teenagers) working in the nursery probably wouldn't know if a kid was missing, or know/ care who belongs to whom.
Am I the only one with this concern? What does your church do? Do you have any suggestions that I could bring up with the nursery director? I'd like to make use of this option, but I'm soooo hesitant until I find out more or can be better assured of safety.

Thanks! :thumbsup:

[Katigre]

Here is what I would do:

1. Call the director of the nursery/sunday school. There is someone who is supposed to be in charge and she's the one you need to talk to.

2. Ask what their policy is for child protection in the nursery - secure check in-check-out procedures? Requirements for serving (i want to hear they had an application, background check, and other requirements like at least one adult, not only teen helpers).

3. If her answer is not satisfactory, express that you are concerned about leaving your child there and wondered if they could implement a buzzer system, card system, or other means of secure check in and check out. Those are fairly mainstream in all churches nowadays, so if they want to do it they can just call another local church and ask how they did it to get advice :).

[nrp]

Our church has a couple of systems, depending on the age of the child. Both, though, involve a sticker system. They pre-print labels (just regular mailing labels - maybe 1" x 3"?) with unique numbers, but each label is two parts - one-half that is stuck on the child's back and one-half that you wear (the worker just peels it off the page and tears it on the line). Then when you pick the child up, the nursery worker matches up the labels and they have to stick both sides to a sheet, for their records. For babies (under two) we also have pagers, and the parent's label is stuck to the pager, and then they can page you if there is a problem (baby unconsolable, etc.). Then you just turn the pager in when you pick up your LO. We go to a very large church, so it would be next to impossible to find a parent if they didn't do that. But for just purposes of security, the label system is pretty simple and effective, IMO.

Not sure if that answer was very clear - if you are interested, PM me and I'll try to explain further.

[wolverine2]

We have pagers and you can only get your child back when you hand in your pager. The kids have nametags on while in the nursery. They also page when a child is overly fussy or unhappy.

[gatorsmom]

Have you thought about a smaller church? Honestly, I recognize the same people using and babysitting at our nursery every Sunday. Also, if someone tried to take one of the kids who wasn't a parent, we would all recognize RIGHT.AWAY.

As it turns out, our nursery will allow the parents to stay in there with the kids AND Eucharistic Ministers bring communion into the nursery for the parents in there. Also, there is a tiny television right in the room so that the parents can watch the mass while sitting in the nursery with their kids. Honestly, it's been months since I sat in the regular church. Most often, DH goes in the church with Gator and I sit in the nursery with Cha Cha and the twins, watching the mass on TV. Since our twins will be little for only a short time, I don't mind sitting in the nursery with them during mass. At some point, they'll be ready for the church pews too. :)

[bcafe]

Our nursery is set up by ages. Each age group gets a different color wrist band (room is painted that color too). You sign in your child, put on a numbered wrist band (think water park wrist band) on the child and a matching band on one adult. When the service is over, the child/adult must match before the child is given over to the adult. Each room has a dutch (half) locked door so you can't just barge in and the child can't get out. Every nursery worker wears a picture ID and must go through a background check. This system works great.

[mamicka]

We use wristlets with a number that is assigned to the child at sign-in. But it's also a small enough church that everyone knows everyone. It seems to be enough for any visitors we have that they feel comfortable leaving their kids.

[Karenn]

We have pagers and you can only get your child back when you hand in your pager. The kids have nametags on while in the nursery. They also page when a child is overly fussy or unhappy.


We use beepers at our church too. Also, all children are "registered" for the Nursery/Sunday school so that we have emergency contact information and custody information etc. I also know that at our church it seems like there's a lot of kids and it looks like it might be hard to keep track of all of them, but in reality, the nursery staff has known at least 95% of the families for years, and they know which parents go with which kids. That means too that it's easier to recognize and keep track of any new families.

[MommyAllison]

Our church is fairly large (1500ish adults/service, with 2 services on Sundays), and we've gone through 3 different systems. The first was a wristband system, where at check-in, the parent signed the child into their classroom, and the nursery worker put a numbered wristband on the adult (the number was also written on the sign-in sheet). If needed during service, the number from the bracelet was put up on the screen in the sanctuary, otherwise, at pickup the nursery worker cut off your bracelet and matched up the child # with the bracelet #.

Then we switched to a more secure system, where each family registered in the computer system (one time) and received keytags with your family's barcode on them. The keytag was scanned in each child's classroom, and had to be scanned again at pickup. The computer system also showed (with photos) who was authorized to pick up the child, and if you weren't in there, even if you had the keytag, you couldn't pick up or drop off. In the infant room, they did the wristband and the computer system, as a double safety measure since babies can't tell you if that is really their parent.

We just switched again to a new computer system called KidCheck, and completely took away the wristband option. With KidCheck, you register your family in the computer system once, receive a family keytag w/barcode, and then when you get to church each week, you check in all of your kids at one computer kiosk, saying which child goes to which classroom, where you will be during service, and if you need 2 guardian receipts (so that more than one parent could pickup). Then a nametag label prints for each child, and a guardian receipt or 2, take each child to their classroom where the teacher has a computer printout list of all the kids. The teacher writes the child's nametag number (which is new at every service) on the sheet, and then at checkout the parent asks for the child by name and then shows the guardian receipt. The guardian receipt # has to match the nametag #. This is the best system so far, by far. Check-in is super fast at the kiosk (usually less than 1 minute per family), and the classroom check-in goes smoothly as well.

Sorry that was long. :) HTH though!

[DebbieJ]

We go to a small church. We have matching stickers and pagers too.

We occasionally visit my mom's church (large) or my sister's church (HUGE) and they both do the sticker thing as well. There is also a call system that if your kid's # shows up on the screen, that means come to the nursery. You MUST present the sticker to retrieve your child.

[infomama]

Our congregation is very small and there are normally only (max) five kids in the nursery with two helpers. We sign Dd2 in and that is it. You guys have got me thinking that more need to be done at my church. I am going to suggest the sticker system, I think.

[ett]

We have pagers and you can only get your child back when you hand in your pager. The kids have nametags on while in the nursery. They also page when a child is overly fussy or unhappy.

:yeahthat: We have the exact same system at our church.

[lalasmama]

We have a very small church--200 attendees on a Sunday is a "large" service.

For nursery (under 2 years), you sign your baby in, fill out a registration card if needed, and then recieve a number card. We mark the number down on the sign in, and you have to present your number card when you come to pick up your child. Siblings/aunts/uncles aren't allowed to pick up kids. That being said, we rarely use the system, because we have 4 families in the nursery now, with 8 parents that attend every week. We know which babies belong with which adult, and the kids (and teens) know that they aren't allowed in the nursery without prior, planned permission. We always have 2 adults serving in the nursery, even with only 1 baby.

Oh, and if a parent is needed, an usher gets them, we call them on their cell phone, or we post it across the screen on the power point.

[daisymommy]

Our nursery is set up by ages. Each age group gets a different color wrist band (room is painted that color too). You sign in your child, put on a numbered wrist band (think water park wrist band) on the child and a matching band on one adult. When the service is over, the child/adult must match before the child is given over to the adult. Each room has a dutch (half) locked door so you can't just barge in and the child can't get out. Every nursery worker wears a picture ID and must go through a background check. This system works great.

This is how our church does it too. Even though we have been going there for 8 years now and everyone working in the nursery has had all 3 of my kids at this point, they still check my band against my childs because they said they don't ever want to get in the habit of not checking. I like that. We joke about it and say, "Oh! Is this your child? Let me check" hardy-har-har, silly I know. But it makes me feel better to know they really are that secure.

Also, for the 1 and under crowd, we have pagers, and there is a TV monitor up front on each side of the building where your child's number (from the wristband) will flash is there is something wrong and they need you to come the room.

Everyone who works in the kids rooms must go through a training class (safety, first-aid, and appropriate teaching/correcting methods) and a background check. No one under 21 can work alone.

I love our church :love-retry:

[Indianamom2]

Well, our church has been growing by leaps and bounds and there are hundreds of kids each week. They've tried a lot of different systems but the one that they are currently using would work ( I think) if they actually followed through.

We use some sort of computer check-in system, where all the child's family info/date of birth/allergy information is entered. Then each week, a family member puts in the last 4 digits of their phone number, and all the names of all the children in that family pop up. You click on each child, and for each child, two sticker labels print out. Each set of stickers has one sticker with the child's first and last name, allergy info, class that they belong in and parents names along with a unique number. The other sticker in the set has the same number as the child's sticker and the child's name (I think...I'm going off memory here as I don't really pay attention any more). The child wears the sticker in the nursery or elementary age classes and the parents are supposed to present the coordinating sticker/number when they pick the child up.

In theory, it should work just fine....but the reality is that most class workers don't check because a.) they know about 95% of the families anyway, and b.) it's crazy and chaotic at the end of church, with everyone just trying to get their families together and people just don't take the time to do it.


I forgot to add that all children's workers must fill out an application to volunteer, must be a certain age to volunteer alone (I think it's 18 and older) must undergo a criminal background check. I am very happy this has recently been implemented.
I'm not sure there is a better system but no matter what system you use, it has to be enforced.

[ewpmsw]

Our congregation is very small and there are normally only (max) five kids in the nursery with two helpers. We sign Dd2 in and that is it. You guys have got me thinking that more need to be done at my church. I am going to suggest the sticker system, I think.

Yeah, this thread made me think. Our small church's system is just sign-in and go. Parents are supposesd to write their names and where they will be, but most don't bother. The rule used to be that two people were required to be in the nursery, but they've recently become more flexible about it so parents can attend services. The church recently installed a dutch door on the nursery so that people can see in/out, but the little bitties are shut in securely. Other classroom doors have windows so that people can see in/out.