vetting of volunteers

If you knew of someone who is a volunteer with an orgainisation/help line. And is totally unsuitable for the position ,what would you do/can be done? My concern is that its supposed to be confidential service.

I would report my concerns to the organisation concerned and let them take it from there.

It is not for you to decide who is suitable and unsuitable. However, if you have serious concerns, as Rois said, you really have to tell the organisation concerned what you know that you think they don't. Such an organisation will almost certainly have a code of practice that volunteers must agree to adhere to, and if this is being broken they would either formally warn the volunteer or - if the breech was serious enough - terminate their service.

Perhaps this crowd can advise you...
http://www.volunteeringireland.ie/

MCTI..RE:It is not for you to decide who is suitable and unsuitable......

Of course I can make a decision as to whether someone is suitable or not..its what I need to do about it that I asked for opinions on.remember this is a volunteer position of trust and confidentiality and if I have information that this person is unsuitable then I can make that decision,whether the orgainisation will do anything about it ,is out of my hands..
I would hope that anyone who has information that a person is totaly unsuitable for a particular volunteering job would not omit to do something about it based on "its not up to you to decide who is suitable".thats very much a case of |I was only doing my job.,..
Thank you to posters whom have given construtive recommendations.

Without having a bit more information its hard to advise on this situation but i would say to you to think before you make an allegation about someone. If someone came to me with an allegation i think i would question the motives somewhat. If the individual is working with children then the organisation should have done background checks. Have you a specific incident that has occured - a breach of confidentiality that you can prove for example? Or is it that you generally think the person is unsuitable? Many voluntary agencies do interviews and other checks and something you feel is unsuitable may not be so under there ethos.

Havana..thanks for your response.it did make me think if i was doing the right thing.,
My motive is based on fact,as apart from the fact that the person is not suitable for this particular volunteering position there are many other positions which he would be ,the position is one of trust .
Confidentiality is his biggest problem,so anywhere that confidentiality would not be a requirment would be fine.
I know that the orgainisation in question requires the volunteers to attend a course and he has not attended
on a regular basis.I just think that an orgainisation that you and/or i may contact as a lifeline should have maybe some kind of system in place to vet volunteers.ie psycometric testing.
The best way to describe it would be to tell you I have seen this place advertised ,and anyone can phone on a confidential basis and I believe this will not be adhered to.I have nothing against this person,and sadly because ones motives are questioned it may lead to a situation where one wouldnt get involved.
I know its a requirment that this orgainisation asks volunteers
not to tell people you are one of them,
Not to give advice
not to disclose information recieved.
to attend their course.etc.
everyone who knows this person was taken aback when we heard he was becoming a volunteer and now more so that he is "passed "the course,and can deal with the public "confidentialy".
All I can say to sum up is perhaps I shouldnt get involved ,but I ,as well as others who know him,will never trust this place ,and that is a shame.

thedaras said:

anyone can phone on a confidential basis

Click to expand...

Even if the person in question cannot be trusted to keep any matters discussed confidential (and that seems to be a big assumption on your part) does it really matter that much since the callers will presumably retain their anonymity anyway?

Its not an assumption,Im afraid,I wish it were...
And of course it matters,there is such a thing as voice regocnition /email information/phone number, information all of which would be evident to the reciever..
Well anyhow it seems that the view is that I should maybe think twice about doing anything about it,so will mull it over..will still find it hard to think that people are phoning a confidential service believing,rightly or wrongly that it will remain that way..

Hopefully the organisation will have proper supervision in place so that if issues do arise they will be identified. I wonder do helplines like this have random screening of calls? Its a difficult one and i do understand your concern. I manage volunteers but we have good systems in place to oversee all staff. You can never have it perfect but hopefully this agency takes their responsibility equally as seriously.

I suppose i'm not saying you definitely shouldn't contact them- i suppose its hard to make a judgement without all the info and at the end of the day you have to follow your own consciance. Has the individual broken confidentiality since working there? If so was the individual identifiable by the info he gave? Confidentiality will never be absolute although i undertand that people pinning such lines may assume it will be

OP,
are you saying your friend talks about these peoples problems to you and others over dinner/drinks?
or
are you saying he is the kind of person to log calls and track callers numbers to use with malicious intent?

Have you proof that this person has actually betrayed a confidence, used or repeated information that he learned from a caller to this organisation. If this is happening, in my opinion you should do as Rois and others have said, inform the organisation and leave it at that. I would caution you that proof is important, as everyone is entitled to his good name. If he is telling people that he is a member of the particular organisation, or is abusing the trust of callers , then it's important that such behaviour is not seen as acceptable. It is, at the very least, unfair to the organisation, unfair to the other volunteers and most especially it's detrimental to those who may wish to avail of and feel they need this service.

If it is the organisation that I think it is , then this person has already broken their rules by telling that he is becoming a volunteer particularly if this is a small area. The reason for not disclosing membership is very simple as knowledge of the volunteers can be a deterrant to would be callers. If you have serious misgivings about this person which you can stand over , then you need to phone the director of the service and tell him/her of your concerns. There is a probationary period for volunteers and there is a lot of supervision at this stage, the problem is that ultimately the ability to keep ones mouth shut is paramount in a situation like this and this person if unable to do this could do untold damage. I think your conscience will dictate your actions.

.
Thank you Brainne..As you can tell from my post, me and a lot of others have been told by the person in question that he was training and now is a volunteer.so you are right ,as this is against the rules and I absolutly agree that it would be a deterrant ,as one/all of us may need to use this service at some stage.
And this is exactly why this person is totaly unsuitable,he is incapable of keeping his mouth shut and has had several rows with many people about it.we all laugh when we talk to this person as we wonder who will be told what when our backs are turned,however we know this will happen which gives us the opportuinty to only tell what we know will be passed around.Others wont have that privilage..
But thank you for understanding my concern..

You are welcome, best of luck with your decision.