Every year, before a single camper walks through an ESF entrance, a process is already underway that most families will never see.

It’s not the staff training. It’s not the facility inspection. It happens earlier than either and it’s the reason the rest of the summer can look the way it does.

It’s our staff screening.

For more than a decade, ESF Camps has partnered with Reference Services, Inc. (RSI), a background-screening firm specializing in youth-serving organizations, on a protocol deeper than the industry standard. Brad Odil, RSI’s President, recently wrote a letter to ESF families and shared a testimonial explaining what’s included and why. 

Here’s what actually happens, layer by layer, and why each one is there.

Six layers, not one.

When most people hear “background check,” they picture a single search: a name run through a database, maybe a criminal record flag. For many volunteer and youth-serving organizations, that’s where it begins and ends.

At ESF, every staff candidate is screened through six distinct, jurisdiction-based searches:

1. Nationwide Criminal Search, including Sex Offender Registry checks in all 50 states.

A single-state search can miss records from anywhere a person has previously lived or worked. Fifty-state coverage closes that gap.

2. Social Security Trace to verify address history.

This surfaces every place a candidate has resided, which determines where the rest of the searches need to run. Skip this step, and the other searches may be looking in the wrong counties.

3. County Criminal Search in every relevant jurisdiction.

County courthouses are where most criminal records actually live. National databases don’t always pull them. County-level searches go straight to the source.

4. National Federal Criminal Search.

Federal offenses don’t appear in county or state records. This layer catches what state-level searches structurally cannot.

5. Statewide Criminal Search, where available.

An additional check that captures records some counties don’t consistently report upward.

6. Social Media Search.

Publicly available posts, comments, and content that may present risk or concern, reviewed alongside a broader web and news search. Résumés tell you what someone chose to list. Social media tells you what they chose to share.

Every ESF staff member, from Camp Director to Junior Counselor, clears all six.

Why the jurisdiction strategy matters.

The most important line in Brad Odil’s letter is also the most technical:

“While some organizations rely solely on limited database checks or name-based screenings, ESF Camps requires a broader, jurisdiction-based search strategy designed to uncover reportable records at the county, state, and federal levels.”

The plain-English version: U.S. court records don’t all live in one place. A name-based national database search is fast and cheap, but it misses records that weren’t uploaded, weren’t standardized, or were filed under a different identifier. County-level searches pull directly from the courthouse where the record was filed, which is why they’re more reliable.

Running every level, county, state, federal, means a reportable record has fewer places to hide.

FCRA compliance isn’t a footnote.

The Fair Credit Reporting Act is the federal law that governs how background checks are conducted, reported, and used. RSI’s adherence to the FCRA means three things for ESF families:

• Every search is legally compliant.
• Candidates are properly notified and retain their rights throughout the process.
• Results are accurate, auditable, and defensible, not based on guesswork or cut corners.

It’s the kind of detail families shouldn’t have to think about. It’s also the reason they don’t have to.

Why ESF chose this standard.

There’s a simpler way to run background checks. A single-database check runs in minutes and costs very little. Many organizations take that route.

ESF doesn’t, for a reason Brad put best:

“Inviting others to work with your children is one of the most important decisions a parent makes.”

The screening process isn’t the most visible part of what ESF does. It’s one of the most consequential. It runs quietly, year-round, behind every name on a camp roster.

By the time a staffer meets your child, six searches have already met them first.

Read Brad Odil’s full letter to ESF Camps families and watch his testimonial video.