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[mam04d]

Hello all.
I'm interested in finding more information about the university obligations when sending students out on internship, especially those working with minors. For example, in teacher education, recreation, athletic training, speech/language pathology, etc., when we send students out for an applied experience, does the university have any obligation to complete a background check on these students, require them to have health insurance, or sign some sort of waiver that the university is not responsible for anything that happens off site? I have tried contacting legal services on my own campus, but they will not respond. Do any of you have suggestions or a resource for more information? Thanks!

[secundem_artem]

Ours students undergo at least criminal record check and a TB skin test as far as I can remember.  They have malpractice insurance through the university.  Students pay for the first 2 but not the insurance.  Normally, we would have some kind of agreement or memorandum of understanding with our external sites.

Contact some local schools of education or just about any allied health field and they can likely take you through their procedures.  But the short answer is YES, you do need to do some background work before you just send your students out into the wide world of experiential education.

[zharkov]

The laws/rules for working with minors vary by state, so perhaps ask your state's dept of ed.