Reliant reviews program applications and accepts the event participants. If there are no concerns then Reliant will accept the applicant without any further steps needed.  (The director can also request that they see the list of everyone who is ready to be approved by Reliant to confirm their acceptance). This page outlines the steps taken for applications that have concerns. If Reliant sees anything of concern with an applicant, Reliant event coordinator (Sarah) will send an email to the appropriate program director to inform them of the specific concern. 

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• SEE ALSO: Conditions for Acceptance
• SEE ALSO: Not Accepted for the Program/Event

CONFIDENTIALITY AGREEMENT

There is one important caveat to these concerns...before Reliant can move forward with:

1. Sharing the concern with the appropriate program director 
2. Pursuing a local pastoral interview with the applicant's pastor, or
3. Follow up with their named reference(s) given by the applicant

Reliant needs to first verify that the program participant's application shows that they have responded with a YES to the Confidentiality Agreement on the event application.  (We have added this new question to the application in the AGREEMENT Section asking for the participant's permission to discuss their application answers with their local pastor or named reference.) We will be required to honor their answer.  If they respond NO, then Reliant will inform the program Director that we see a concern but since they have answered the Confidentiality question with NO we do not have permission to discuss this further.  Reliant will then give their recommendation to the program director who can decide if they would  like to move forward with the acceptance. 

PARENTAL CONCERNS

In 2017 there was only one participant that Reliant choose not to accept and that was due to a parent saying “absolutely No” to their child attending Honduras Leadership Training. 

The only case that Reliant would say absolutely NO to accepting an applicant, is in cases such as where the parent has clearly stated that in no way they want their son/daughter to attend LT. It would say on the application "WE HAVE PERSONALLY ADVISED OUR SON/DAUGHTER NOT TO PARTICIPATE FOR THE FOLLOWING REASONS".  and an example of a reason would be... "I have read that this location has a high crime rate and as her mom, I am NOT OK with this."  In the case of a parent saying no way they absolutely can not go, then Reliant cannot accept them due to insurance liability reasons.  

In the scenario of parental concerns, Reliant will ask the local pastor or director to follow up with parent and probably follow up with the applicant to help relieve concerns.  Emails and documentation will be needed to confirm that parents are willing to move forward with their child’s participation in the program.  If the parent has clearly written “No, my child may not attend”, Reliant and the church/network must respect the desires of the parent and will unfortunately not be able to accept the applicant into the program due to insurance and liability reasons.

In general, most parents say they have concerns and those are usually adequately addressed after the parents have a discussion with the director.  You may see written on the application: "WE ARE NOT OPPOSED TO OUR SON/DAUGHTER PARTICIPATING, BUT WE HAVE THE FOLLOWING RESERVATIONS THAT WE SIMPLY WANT TO MAKE RELIANT AWARE OF"....... and that usually follows with a question or concern from the parent. Reliant will then send an email to the director to ask that the director follow up with the parent to discuss and seek to resolve the reservations/concerns.

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Acceptance of a minor Acceptance of a minor

ACCEPTANCE OF A MINOR

There have been times where a participant under 18 desires to attend the program.  In the case of the Collegiate LT program this happens often with children of Reliant missionaries who are also attending the program with their parents wanting to be participants. The YMCA has been known to hire participants under the age of 18 for the Collegiate LT participants. However, the YMCA is not legally allowed to let them live in their provided employee housing. In this case, if a director wants the minor to attend the program they will need to find separate housing for that participant. In the case of a Reliant missionary son/daughter, the participant can live outside of the dorms on YMCA property with their parents.  If this is not the case, the director will need to discuss the living situation options for the minor with Reliant before moving forward with finding housing off YMCA property as this is a higher liability for all.  Here is an example of a liability form created for a minor staying off site. A special waiver will need to be created with specifics of location, dates, transportation expected to and from,  etc. for each one of these unique circumstances that will need to be signed by both parent and minor.

  Reliant Release and Liab Waiver for Minor Example

CONCERNED APPLICATIONS

ACCEPTANCE FOR PARTICIPANTS WITH NO CONCERNS

Reliant will automatically accept all participants that have no concerns on their application. However, the director may request that all acceptance names first be sent to them to confirm their acceptance prior to officially being accepted. 

ACCEPTANCE DECIDED ON A RELIANT LEVEL

There are a few smaller more frequently seen concerns listed below that typically appear on applications. It is Reliant’s understanding that in these scenarios a director and/or local pastor does not need to be notified and that acceptance is considered approved without notifying the church/network and is simply accepted with no questions by Reliant.  The director may also request that all acceptance names first be sent to them to confirm their acceptance prior to officially being accepted. 

• If a participant mentions that they have struggled with slipping once or twice with underage drinking 

• If they have slipped once sexual purity but it is no longer a struggle

• If they struggle with masturbation but have accountability

ACCEPTANCE CONCERNS DECIDED ON THE LOCAL PASTOR/PROGRAM DIRECTOR LEVEL

There may be other concern scenarios where Reliant would like the program director and/or local pastor to be aware and to give their consent before approval/acceptance, but Reliant is not requiring a follow up meeting between the local pastor and event participant and Reliant will not send a conditional acceptance email unless requested by the director. These are concerns that Reliant wants to get director approval for, but we do not seem them as serious enough to need follow up discussion with the students (unless the director requests it).

Those scenarios include, but are not limited to:

• Depression/anxiety (seeing a counselor and/or taking medication but it seems under control)

• Alcohol usage (habitual underage drinking and/or lack of seeing underage drinking as an issue)

• Sexual purity (continued issue and/or no accountability listed)

• Pornography/masturbation (continued issue and/or no accountability listed),

• Multiple concerns listed

• Spiritual reference is unaware of the struggles listed by the participant

• or the spiritual reference listed struggles that the participant did not.

We want to leave the final acceptance decision of these concerns in the hands of the local pastor and director that will be with the participant all summer.

RELIANT AND THE PROGRAM DIRECTORS DECIDE ACCEPTANCE  TOGETHER

Those scenarios include, but are not limited to: 

• severe depression/anxiety (hospitalized, panic attacks)
• any kind of self harm/abuse (eating disorders, cutting, etc.)
• suicidal thoughts or attempts
• substance abuse (drunkenness, prescription drug abuse, etc.)
• illegal drugs
• sexual addiction
• parental issues
• multiple (more serious) concerns listed
• their spiritual reference is unaware of the serious struggles listed by the participant
• or their spiritual reference listed more serious concerns that the participant did not.  

These above scenarios do not mean automatic Reliant rejection from program acceptance. It just means additional follow up for information and email trails to be able to provide legal protection for Reliant and the program to prove we did our due diligence. These scenarios may include Reliant asking the director or designated representative to discuss with the local pastor to follow up with the individual participant with an in-person interview discussing the concerns and then giving Reliant their candid thoughts prior to potential acceptance. It will then include the overall approval of the director as well as the approval of Reliant. It may also include requiring the participant to have continued follow up meetings with a pastor during the program.  It will almost always include a conditional acceptance email from Reliant that is sent to the participant which strengthens our written legal protection for the program to show that we did our due diligence. For those struggling with emotional issues or self-harm there may be additional steps taken prior to acceptance such as asking a counselor's opinion or having them continue counseling over the summer.  See Conditions for Acceptance for more details on conditions and the conditional acceptance email.

PROGRAM DIRECTORS DISCUSS WITH LOCAL PASTOR/SPIRITUAL REFERENCES

Here are steps that we suggest the director taking once they receive an email from Reliant saying they have a concerned participant and Reliant is asking for them to follow up with the local pastor/spiritual reference and meet one on one with the participant to discuss the concerns.

• Text the local pastor or spiritual reference listed on the application to set up a time to discuss the concerns.
• Call and talk through the concerns with the pastor/spiritual reference and explain the below expectations. 

-Ask them to help you know more about who the person is and what you would be getting into by accepting them into the program. 
-Discuss specific questions that you would want them to ask the participant in regards to the specific concerns.
-Remind them to take notes and report back via email so that we have written documentation about how we handled the concern.
-Explain the process to them so that they know what our expectations are:

• • We are asking them to follow up one on one with the concerned participant and discuss the concerns in more detail. We want to explain to the participant that we care about them and our heart is to help them have a good experience during the program and we want to figure out the best place for them if that's to attend or not to attend the program. 
  • If we feel like the best place is the attend the program, then let them know there will likely be conditions put in place for them to follow (for example meeting with a staff member bi-weekly for accountability and/or asking them to refrain from what they are doing, etc.)  and make sure that they are willing to agree to those conditions. 
  • Let the participant know that if we decide to move forward with acceptance, they will be receiving a conditional email. The email will sound more formal and perhaps a little intense and will list policies and conditions that we are asking them to agree to follow. The wording on the email has been created for liability reasons so it will sound more legal and less friendly so we just want to let them know so that they are not surprised by the way it is worded. 

• After the call with the local pastor or spiritual reference, send an email to them explaining everything that was just discussed over the phone again as a way to remind them in written form what you discussed. Ask them to report back details from the conversation with the participant by replying back to this email so that we have it documented in written form the student's responses and the pastor/spiritual reference's recommendation of whether or not they feel like we should accept the participant  
• The director would then forward that email along with the director's recommendation and a list of any conditions the director recommends to Reliant (and Collegiate NEB member for LT programs). Reliant will then review the situation and decide if additional conditions need to be added and whether or not they agree with the recommendation to move forward with the acceptance. 
• If Reliant decides to move forward with the conditional acceptance, the director would then assign a staff accountability person to meet with the participant and hold the participant accountable during the program to the conditions that have been put in place. We suggest finding someone who has a shepherd heart and also clearly identify this as part of the role prior to the beginning of the program. If possible, have the staff member reach out to the participant before they arrive at the program to begin discussions and gain trust. 
  
  

SEE ALSO: Conditions for Acceptance