How to write a children's ministry bathroom policy

Photo by Juan Marin on Unsplash

When you work with kids of any age, you'll always have to make considerations for potty time. It's just a part of life with kids. And in a fallen world where predators are out there, it's important for churches to take safety seriously and have policies in place to be proactive about protecting kids. A megachurch was in the headlines a year ago when one of their preschool volunteers was arrested for molesting young kids in the bathroom at church during their children's ministry time. The church did have bathroom policies, but they weren't being enforced, and it was tragic for at least seven kids. 

Many times, bathroom policies can be overlooked in children's ministry, but we have a responsibility to protect the kids in our ministry, and it is vital for a church to have and enforce bathroom policies and procedures every time. 

The main point of a bathroom policy is this: there should never be an adult alone in a bathroom with kids at any time. 

Every church has different setups for their bathrooms, and that can make it challenging to know how to deal with different bathroom scenarios, but no matter what your space looks like, you need to have bathroom safety policies. They need to be written down, clear to parents and volunteers, be communicated frequently, and be enforced at all times. 

Here are some children's ministry bathroom policies and procedures:

• The best option is to have single stall bathrooms kids can access from within each ministry classroom without having to leave the room. 
• When a child has to go to the bathroom and it's in the classroom, they should let a leader know, and the leader should make sure the bathroom is empty, watch the child go in, and wait for the child to come out. That leader should also have another leader in the room who can see what is happening at all times. 
• All bathrooms for your kids should be kids-only bathrooms. Let your adult volunteers know where the adult bathrooms are in your church. 
• You can also have a family bathroom near your children's ministry area for parents to take their own kids before or after church. 
• If possible, best practices are for kids to go into the bathroom one at a time.
• If you don't have bathrooms accessible from your classrooms, you can designate children's ministry bathrooms for each age group, and have a security monitor or hall monitor guarding the bathrooms. 
• If you don't have any other volunteer available and don't have hall monitors, and your bathrooms are in the hall outside your classroom, you can watch (from your classroom) them walk to the bathroom and walk back. 
• When a child has to go to the bathroom, they should go into the bathroom alone (have someone knock first and make sure the bathroom is empty). 
• Two adults should accompany the child to the bathroom and wait outside the door (one can be a children's ministry leader/teacher, and one can be a hall monitor or security volunteer). They should never go into the bathroom with the child. 
• If possible, you should have video cameras in all the hallways and classrooms, and designate someone to view the footage regularly. 
• If a child needs assistance in the bathroom (especially preschool ages), have the child come to the door where the adult is waiting, keep the door open (the adult should not enter the bathroom), and the adult can help with zippers and buttons only (the child needs to be able to pull up their own pants. If they can't, then parents must be contacted to help their own child.). There should always be two adults present when an adult is helping a child, and the adult should say aloud what they are doing to help: Example "I'm helping you zip your pants right now." If possible, they should do it in view of the security camera. 
• If a child uses the bathroom and needs help wiping, or has an accident and needs to be cleaned up, the child's parents should be contacted. 
• *Tip: Keep a bin of new, clean clothes in all ranges of sizes from 2T - Child Small (underwear, shirts, pants) in both genders, to be prepared in cases of accidents. 
• *Tip: Especially when bathrooms are in the classroom, and kids see other kids going to the bathroom, they may just want to all go at once. When a kid asks if they have to go (especially if it's during the Bible story), I always like to ask if it's an emergency or if they can wait until after the Bible story. Usually, they will say they can wait, then they forget all about it. 
• For diaper changes: all diaper changes must be done by a screened, trained volunteer, with another adult in the room. 
• If your church doesn't have a bathroom close by, and doesn't have enough volunteers to take them, encourage parents to always take their kids to the bathroom before church, and have a way to contact parents if needed during the service, to take their own kids. 

Something else to consider: Some churches include in their bathroom/diaper policies that only women may take kids to the bathroom or change diapers. The reason behind this policy:  men are statistically more likely to be abusers/predators (80% of all reported cases of sexual abuse to children involve men as the perpetrators). If your church doesn't feel comfortable including this in your policy, I recommend same gender bathroom trips: men take boys and women take girls. 

I know these seem extreme, but the safety of kids is too important to be lenient in this area. I've created a resource for kidmin leaders that includes an entire volunteer pack (all editable) with a full volunteer handbook and all the policies, as well as volunteer applications, interviews, training guides, evaluations, and more! For a free except from the volunteer handbook, which includes full bathroom and diaper changing policies, click this link.

In addition to bathroom policies, it's important for every volunteer to be screened, background checked, and properly trained. 

Does your church have bathroom policies? Is there anything you would add to the policy?