Responsibilities

GUIDELINES FOR GROUP LEADERS AND CHAPERONES

ALL adults attending the conference must be in compliance with the USCCB Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People. Please check with your diocesan personnel office with questions regarding this matter. Each diocese has its own requirements to meet in order to be in compliance. Your signature, along with your pastor’s, on the Verification Form for Adults, states that all of your adults are in compliance with your diocese’s requirements. For more information on this, please visit www.usccb.org.  It is recommended that chaperones be Catholic.

Group leaders are asked to give an emergency contact cell phone number when registering and to keep that cell phone with them and turned on all weekend.

Chaperones must be totally committed to following all of the conference policies and procedures.

A CHAPERONE MUST ACCOMPANY HIS/HER GROUP to every general session of the conference.

CHAPERONES MUST BE AVAILABLE during TRAVEL, SESSIONS, and SLEEPING HOURS.

Chaperones should PREPARE SPIRITUALLY FOR THE TASK OF CHAPERONING. Group leaders may want to have a retreat, a training day, a weekly prayer meeting, or some method of providing support and encouragement to chaperones.

Chaperones should meet with their small groups at least two months before the conference. This gives chaperones the opportunity to get to know the members of their group and also for the youth to get to know each other. This will begin to build the trust that is needed for the weekend.

It is very important that a chaperone BE MADE AWARE OF ANY SPECIAL NEEDS of the youth in his/her group. This includes health problems, family problems, and any additional information that may help the chaperones to minister more effectively.