SERVICE AND EMOTIONAL SUPPORT ANIMAL POLICY
First Baptist Church Venice, at both campuses – Miami Avenue & Lakefront only allow service animals into the facilities, no other animals are allowed.
In concert with the American Disabilities Act (ADA), First Baptist Church – Venice defines service animals as “dogs that are individually trained to do work or perform tasks for an individual with a disability. The task(s) performed by the dog must be directly related to the person’s disability.”
Examples of such work or tasks include, but are not limited to, assisting people who are blind, alerting people who are deaf, pulling a wheelchair, alerting, and protecting a person who is having a seizure, reminding a person with mental illness to take prescribed medications, calming a person with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) during an anxiety attack, or performing other duties.
Service animals are working animals, not pets. The work or task a dog has been trained to provide must be directly related to the person’s disability. Dogs whose sole function is to provide comfort or emotional support do not qualify as service animals under the ADA.
When it is not obvious what service an animal provides, the First Baptist staff or leaders may ask two questions of the handler: 1) Is the dog a service animal required because of a disability? and 2) What work or task has the dog been trained to perform?
First Baptist Church, being a religious institution, is exempt from the ADA and does not have to allow individuals to bring their service animals into the facility. First Baptist Church desires to be inclusive of all people with disabilities and to ensure freedom to worship to everyone. We also have a responsibility to our church membership to help educate our members and provide a safe environment for all people desiring to worship at First Baptist church.
Therefore, if someone attends our services with a service animal, we expect the service animal and the handlers to meet the following ADA standards and expectations:
• Service animals remain with their handlers while on campus.
• Service animals will not sit on church furniture.
• Service animals must be harnessed, leashed, or tethered, unless these devices interfere with the service animal’s work or the individual’s disability prevents using these devices. In that case, the individual must maintain control of the animal through voice, signal, or other effective controls.
• Service animals do not whine, bark, grumble, or make other noises (example: snoring). An exception may be if the whining is an alert, such as to notify the handler who is experiencing a physical complication.
• Service animals do not obstruct an area used for emergency evacuation.
The church also requests that no service animals be allowed in our children’s facilities. The church leadership and staff may make exceptions to this policy to accommodate unique events and situations.
First Baptist church defines Emotional Support Animals (ESA) as an animal (typically a cat or dog) that provides a therapeutic benefit to its owner through companionship and is not specifically trained or certified to perform tasks for a person who suffers from emotional, psychiatric, or mental health-related disabilities. Under the law, an ESA does not qualify as a service animal and, thus, is not granted legal access to places of public accommodations by the American Disabilities Act (ADA). First Baptist church does not allow any ESA on the premises.
In concert with the American Disabilities Act (ADA), First Baptist Church – Venice defines service animals as “dogs that are individually trained to do work or perform tasks for an individual with a disability. The task(s) performed by the dog must be directly related to the person’s disability.”
Examples of such work or tasks include, but are not limited to, assisting people who are blind, alerting people who are deaf, pulling a wheelchair, alerting, and protecting a person who is having a seizure, reminding a person with mental illness to take prescribed medications, calming a person with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) during an anxiety attack, or performing other duties.
Service animals are working animals, not pets. The work or task a dog has been trained to provide must be directly related to the person’s disability. Dogs whose sole function is to provide comfort or emotional support do not qualify as service animals under the ADA.
When it is not obvious what service an animal provides, the First Baptist staff or leaders may ask two questions of the handler: 1) Is the dog a service animal required because of a disability? and 2) What work or task has the dog been trained to perform?
First Baptist Church, being a religious institution, is exempt from the ADA and does not have to allow individuals to bring their service animals into the facility. First Baptist Church desires to be inclusive of all people with disabilities and to ensure freedom to worship to everyone. We also have a responsibility to our church membership to help educate our members and provide a safe environment for all people desiring to worship at First Baptist church.
Therefore, if someone attends our services with a service animal, we expect the service animal and the handlers to meet the following ADA standards and expectations:
• Service animals remain with their handlers while on campus.
• Service animals will not sit on church furniture.
• Service animals must be harnessed, leashed, or tethered, unless these devices interfere with the service animal’s work or the individual’s disability prevents using these devices. In that case, the individual must maintain control of the animal through voice, signal, or other effective controls.
• Service animals do not whine, bark, grumble, or make other noises (example: snoring). An exception may be if the whining is an alert, such as to notify the handler who is experiencing a physical complication.
• Service animals do not obstruct an area used for emergency evacuation.
The church also requests that no service animals be allowed in our children’s facilities. The church leadership and staff may make exceptions to this policy to accommodate unique events and situations.
First Baptist church defines Emotional Support Animals (ESA) as an animal (typically a cat or dog) that provides a therapeutic benefit to its owner through companionship and is not specifically trained or certified to perform tasks for a person who suffers from emotional, psychiatric, or mental health-related disabilities. Under the law, an ESA does not qualify as a service animal and, thus, is not granted legal access to places of public accommodations by the American Disabilities Act (ADA). First Baptist church does not allow any ESA on the premises.