Youth Protection

Podcast Episode (00:41:24): Download MP3 Listen to Scoutmaster Podcast 224 | Sponsored By ScoutmasterCG.com Backers The Scouting program is like any good camp fire, both require the right materials and right conditions, the x factor is how much patience you have for kindling the fire. Answers to email questions on Scouts and political functions, youth protection, and how many merit badges are a large amount. Get The SCOUTMASTERCG APP Podcast Archive Podcast: Play in new window | Download...

In addition to the program-oriented courses offered through MyScouting.org completing these six online training courses are a worthwhile way for any Scouter to improve their safety IQ. As a young Scoutmaster I felt a lot of these things were limitations, but now I don’t see these safety practices as restrictive. Quite to the contrary I feel more empowered and confident that I can help my Scouts plan and supervise potentially risky activities....

As the contents of the ineligible volunteer files released recently come to light Scouting volunteers and the families that they serve will be justifiably upset and unsettled. They will ask questions. They will want to know that their children are safe. The files record reports of incidents of abuse and served as a database of people deemed ineligible for volunteer positions. They plainly and horrifically reveal that a number of cases were handled internally and some officials at the time seemed more interested in protecting the reputations of abusers and of the organization than the children they served....

As an adult volunteer in Scouting how would you react if you were made aware of suspected abuse? As the Penn State investigations proceed they reveal more about how the administration of the school handled reports of abuse for which the perpetrator now stands convicted. Administrators chose not go to the authorities with reports of abuse – they decided to handle the situation internally. Recently revealed email conversations indicate their rationalizations....