Boy Scouts hold child abuse forum in Dallas area

[TexasTowelie]

Source: AP

GRAPEVINE — Youth group leaders and child welfare experts met Monday near Dallas for the start of a two-day Boy Scouts of America symposium about how to spot and prevent child abuse.

The closed-door meeting near the BSA's national headquarters in the Dallas/Fort Worth suburb of Grapevine is part of the Scouts' efforts to improve how it handles abuse cases after the release of internal documents showing incidents in which the Scouts didn't inform law enforcement about alleged abuse within its ranks.

BSA says it has made sweeping changes in the years since those documents were collected. Scout leaders are now supposed to undergo regular, mandatory youth protection training, and BSA also requires at least two adults present at any meetings with youth and that any suspected abuse be reported to authorities.

Most of the 100 attendees at the symposium were affiliated with other groups, not Scouting. Those with Scouts ties said they welcomed the chance to discuss the group's current issues and best practices with other youth group leaders.

Read more: http://www.mywesttexas.com/top_stories/article_bfdf6db4-353d-11e3-b401-0019bb2963f4.html

[jtuck004]

1. incidents in which the Scouts didn't inform law enforcement about alleged abuse within its ranks. "

How many people have been charged or jailed over this? Because that is a crime that has to be reported in nearly every jurisdiction, is it no?

If not, why even have a government? To protect THESE bastards?

[Rebellious Republican]

2. I know I will get flamed by some eagle scouts about this post.

The closed-door meeting near the BSA's national headquarters in the Dallas/Fort Worth suburb of Grapevine. Just waiting to see if it is White, Gray or Black smoke cuming out of the chimney. Wait a minute , I am getting the Catholic church confused here somewhere. Meanwhile there will be no talk of pedophilia in our ranks.

[xfundy]

3. Hope they had plenty of Catholic priests on hand

To explain how to ignore it or participate, or both.

[TygrBright]

4. Will they be discussing the cruelty of discriminating against gay kids & volunteers? n/t

[beerandjesus]

5. In case anyone's interested:

BSA says it has made sweeping changes in the years since those documents were collected. Scout leaders are now supposed to undergo regular, mandatory youth protection training [...]

There's a requirement for youth protection training which was a one-shot deal; you now need to be re-certified every two years. It's a very simple online class though, mostly common sense, and not particularly burdensome.

and BSA also requires at least two adults present at any meetings with youth and that any suspected abuse be reported to authorities.

This is actually an old policy; at least, it was already in place when I did my first scout chaperoning event about 4 years ago.

[Alcibiades]

6. Scouting has been doing a better job at this

I live in NC, where we had more than our fair share of pedophiles infiltrating scouting. At least the folks at the BSA now seem to understand that their sort of organization will be a magnet to pedophiles if they do not do something about it.

The rules of scouting make sense, protecting children, parents and leaders alike. Basically, no adult is ever to be alone with any child, period: also, the only way kids can attend overnight events is if a parent attends with them.

Here's an anecdote: the principal of my high school was an embezzler, and the vice principal got wise to him. The principal's response was to bribe a boy in my year to say that the vice principal had touched him on an overnight trip. He lost his job and nearly lost his career: the truth only came out a couple of years a later, after an audit of school accounts and a recantation on the part of the boy. Youth protection works both ways.

My big gripe with scouting today is their stance on atheist. Why should my son be forced to accept theistic belief? Why not leave it to him to decide on such a question when he is an adult? My son's den leader knows we are atheists and has not outed us, but it is silly to me that something such as Mormonism--which anyone who is not LDS who has spent even a moment to look into it will acknowledge is an utter fabrication--is accepted within scouting, but atheism and agnosticism, which can be traced back to the Greeks, is not.