Christina Spicer  |  October 16, 2020

Category: Legal News

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Camping teens cook hotdogs over a campfire. The Boy Scouts Youth Protection Training is designed to keep youth safe during every Scouting activity.

The Boy Scouts Youth Protection Program has begun in hopes of preventing more children from becoming victims of Boy Scouts abuse, and to keep another onslaught of sexual abuse allegations and lawsuits against leaders and volunteers from spilling forth.

The Boy Scouts of America declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy back in February after saying it had paid nearly $150 million in legal fees and settlements over the course of two years, ending in 2019.

What is the Boy Scout Youth Protection Policy?

The Boy Scout Youth Protection Policy includes required training for all BSA-registered volunteers and must be retaken every two years.

The Boy Scouts of America says on its website, “Being a leader in the BSA is a privilege, not a right. The quality of the program and the safety of our youth members call for high-quality adult leaders.”

Every adult application includes questions regarding background information that a unit committee or the chartered organization must verify before the applicant can be accepted as a BSA unit leader.

The Boy Scout Youth Protection Policy states that even though no current screening techniques can identify every single potential child predator, the steps the BSA is willing to take can help them identify what the leadership applicant believes are appropriate disciplinary techniques, how much experience the applicant has working with children, and why the person wishes to become a Scout leader.

The BSA says it uses a “multilayered adult leader selection process” that utilizes criminal background checks run by a third party in addition to other screening processes.

What is the Boy Scouts Youth Protection Training?

The Boy Scouts Youth Protection Training is a mandatory online course for those who wish to become adult leaders and volunteers in the organization.

Three training modules and a test module need to be completed in order to qualify for Boy Scouts Youth Protection Certification. The training includes sections on how to identify, respond and report cases of bullying and sexual abuse. In order to become certified, the applicant must pass the certification test with a score of 75% or better.

How Does the Boy Scouts Youth Protection Training Help Prevent Sexual Abuse?

The Boy Scouts Youth Protection Training helps prevent sexual assault because volunteers and Scout leaders learn the circumstances that place children at risk. Children who have already been maltreated, neglected, emotionally abused or physically abused are at a greater risk of being a victim to another abuser, alerts the Boy Scouts Youth Protection Training Program.

The BSA also has set policies regarding reporting violations of its youth protection policies and on reporting suspected child abuse.

If a volunteer witnesses or suspects any youth has been abused or neglected, the volunteer must report the suspected abuse to local law enforcement. The volunteer cannot ask someone else to do the reporting; the volunteer must take the responsibility of reporting the suspected or witnessed abuse directly to local authorities.

Any good-faith suspicion that a child has been physically or sexually abused, physically or emotionally neglected, exposed to any type of violence or threat or exposed to any type of sexual exploitation needs to be reported.

Volunteers are also required to report any violation of the Boy Scout Youth Protection Program to the local council Scout executive or his/her designee for the organization to take the appropriate action.

If circumstances indicate a youth is in immediate risk of harm, the BSA says to always call 911.

The BSA also has established a 24-hour helpline for volunteers and leaders to call if it’s not possible to reach the Scout executive or local council or if a youth is bullied due to race, color, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, or disability and local assistance doesn’t resolve the issue.

Are There Any Additional Barriers to Stop Abuse?

children at boy/girl scout campScout officials say that the Boy Scouts Youth Protection has put safety at the forefront for participants. They point to changes in BSA policies that will protect youth in the future. The Boy Scout Youth Protection Program includes rules that protect both youth and adults, including the following:

  • During meetings and all other Scouting activities, two registered adult leaders age 21 or older must be present.
  • At least one registered female adult leader age 21 or older must be in every unit serving female Scouts, and a registered female adult leader at least 21 years old must be present for any activity that involves female youth.

One Chicago father discovered that even though the new rules are designed to keep children safe, the availability of an adequate number of female leaders can itself become a barrier to his daughter participating in Scouts. In that case, the 7-year-old girl will be allowed to attend the program without a female leader if her father accompanies her. The dad himself is a leader in the Boy Scouts of America.

Will Training Stop Abuse?

While Scout officials say changes in their policies will protect youth going forward, not all child advocates see the Boy Scouts model as safe for kids.

The New York Post reports that a child advocacy group recently completed a study on sex abuse in scouting. The conclusions were grim.

According to the study, conducted by Child USA, more than half of alleged sex abuse incidents happened at a Scout camp. Additionally, researchers found that 70% of the victims were abused multiple times. Abusers used threats, grooming, and gained the trust of victims’ families in the majority of abuse cases studied by Child USA.

Researchers reportedly concluded that a feature of the Boy Scout Program, camping and other outdoor activities, encourages kids to go with strangers into locations, like the woods, without parents, safe places, or police, making them susceptible to abuse. In addition, researchers found that most of the child sex abuse that occurred in the Boy Scouts program was perpetrated by adults, rather than by other children.

The lead researcher told New York Post reporters that “there’s something going on in this setting that makes it way more likely for adults to abuse a child than is typical.”

“Scouts is mistaken in their belief that teaching a child to build a fire or earn a badge is equivalent to situational strength,” concluded the study report, according to the New York Post. Indeed, the founder of Child USA told reporters that the Boy Scout’s model is “doomed to fail” at protecting children.

Join a Free Boy Scouts of America Sexual Abuse Class Action Lawsuit Investigation

If you or someone you love suffered from sexual abuse in the Boy Scouts of America, you may qualify to join this Boy Scout sexual abuse class action lawsuit investigation.

See if you qualify by filling out the free form on this page.

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This article is not legal advice. It is presented
for informational purposes only.

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