Insurance provider State Farm shows concerns over churches in the state of Florida and dropped them. To insure churches they want to see safety guidelines in place in regard to children, if they want to obtain ” abuse and molestation” coverage. I wonder if the insurance companies that insure Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous realize that courts are mandating level 3 sex offenders, and violent felons to 12 step programs? Many of them located in the very basements of the churches they insure. I also wonder if the insurance companies have any idea that felons are sponsoring minors in AA/NA ? AA/NA provide no background checks unless they are going into a prison. So lets see, in prison there is very high security to protect inmates and juveniles. To sponsor a minor on the outside of detention centers AA has no such requirements. Are the insurance companies taking this into account when they are insuring these high risk 12 step groups? It would be nice if they put requirements on AA like they are doing with the churches. This is what changed the churches policies on dealing with sexual predator behavior in their congregations. To get insurance they HAD to start dealing with it to some extent. Of course they are dealing with hundreds of claims annually through protestant churches alone. They would probably would have thousands more without the changes. As we know in AA, many sexual assaults go unreported because of the principles of maintaining anonymity. Of course their lawsuits dealing with AA are swept under the rug.
Matt Carlucci, with the Jacksonville, Florida-based Brightway Insurance Agency, said churches pose a number of special risks, especially those that operate day care centers and schools.
To obtain so-called “abuse and molestation” coverage, churches must show they perform background checks on employees and volunteers. Additionally, insurers may require that the schools and day care centers have in place rules such as not allowing males employees to be alone with a child and maintaining a certain ratio of teachers to students.
“To get coverage, the churches are going to have to prove they have those procedures in place,” said Carlucci.
http://www.mynewmarkets.com/articles/180969/state-farm-to-stop-insuring-churches-in-florida
