If you’re a fan of “Dancing with the Stars,” you’ll have a good time at an upcoming fundraising effort to highlight the Consumer Awareness of Unsafe Service Employment (C.A.U.S.E.) organization and educate the public.  Dancing for the CAUSE, which is on the drawing board for May of 2010, is slated to involve the townships of Lewisville, Highland Village and Flower Mound in a dance contest.  Where the event will be held is yet to be determined and should be announced in future articles. Lucia Bone, founder of C.A.U.S.E., recently met with committee members to frame out the details for this fun-filled event.  “I’d like it to be held in a central location that is close enough to all three townships,” said Ms. Bone.   

     Other efforts for the organization include Lucia Bone preparing draft legislation regarding C.A.U.S.E. certification per the request of Barry Brown, Chief of Staff to Congressman Michael Burgess, in the hopes it will be introduced in the House. James Christoferson, Deputy Chief of Staff for Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson, has also requested a draft for potential Senate sponsorship of a companion bill.

     After suffering the loss of her sister, Sue Weaver, at the hands of a service employee that had a criminal past, Ms. Bone became aware of the fact that criminal background checks were not as thorough as you would think. This was the beginning of the Sue Weaver C.A.U.S.E. organization to educate the public about the dangers of letting service employees into your home without knowing if they had criminal histories. “Through the process of developing C.A.U.S.E. Certification, C.A.U.S.E. reached out to the screening industry to help define a thorough background check.  Experts in the screening industry were asked what they would want the minimum screening criteria to be for anyone entering the home of their elderly mother, pregnant wife or physically challenged niece (the vulnerable populations).  The results of the survey became the minimum screening guidelines for C.A.U.S.E. Certification.

     Many people (employers) assume the FBI database is the best background screen available.  Unfortunately, this actually offers a false sense of security. Not only is it incomplete but it contains arrest records, not necessarily convictions, and was never built or intended for pre-employment screening purposes.”

C.A.U.S.E. recommends:

Don't be home alone with a service worker, invite a friend over for coffee!

Your children are not protection; the perpetrator may actually threaten the life of your children.

Protect yourself and your family. Hire C.A.U.S.E. certified businesses; you should be safer because they screen their employees, contractors and subcontractors annually following C.A.U.S.E. guidelines.

For more information concerning C.A.U.S.E. please check out their website at:  www.SueWeaverCAUSE.org