Safety is the top priority in the Boy Scouts of America (BSA), and safety is Priority Number One in Pack 125. (Number Two is fun, and Number Three is Scouting. It turns out that if we do Scouting right, then we're being safe and having fun, so the priorities support each other.)
The BSA was
generations ahead of its time when, in the 1920s, it first started keeping a database of adults
not allowed to serve as volunteers. The BSA blazed the path again in the 1980s with the introduction of its
Youth Protection Training (YPT). With input from both law enforcement and mental health professionals, the BSA's Youth Protection Training is
so good, it is used by many other organizations, either directly or as a model—and it's
free! We urge
all parents in Pack 125 to take YPT. It helps
everyone keep our children
safe.
Youth Protection in Scouting can be summarized in two guidelines:
1. Two-deep leadership (i.e., no fewer than two registered leaders must always be present)
2. No one-on-one contact (i.e., adults may never be alone with a youth who is not their child)
At the beginning of the 21st century, the BSA started requiring all its adult leaders to undergo criminal background checks. The BSA uses strict guidelines to screen potential volunteers, checking, for example, to see if someone's driver's license has been revoked.
Not only do
all adult leaders take
Youth Protection Training every two years, but all leaders in the BSA are also mandatory reporters, which means that they are
required to report any abuse, witnessed or suspected, they know of.
Youth Protection is
not just for leaders, either: families are
required to go over Youth Protection materials with their Cub Scouts annually.
Every Cub Scout handbook comes with the pamphlet
How to Protect Your Children from Child Abuse: A Parent's Guide (PDF attached at the bottom of this page). The BSA also made videos for families to watch with their boys;
this one is designed for boys six to ten years old.
The BSA made an infographic on how its Youth Protection policies work. Please download the attached PDF (link at the bottom of this page).
The BSA has also established the
Scouts First Helpline for reporting suspicions of abuse or inappropriate behavior. It is staffed 24/7. Call 1–844–SCOUTS1 (1–844–726–8871). You can also e-mail at
scouts1st@scouting.org.
Here are the main resources for Youth Protection:
Here are some articles on Youth Protection published by the BSA.
You might have heard something in the news about incidents involving adult volunteers. Here are two articles that directly address those issues.
The numbers are in: youth are safer in Scouting than they are in society at large. The BSA's Youth Protection policies work.