Important Changes to YPT, effective June 1, 2010....

[smtroop168]

I am quite certain this is an outcome form the lawsuit we just lost out west somewhere. In PA if a parent wants to help at their kids school in any way IE: classroom help,party help, Santas helper etc. they must have a Child Abuse Background check made through the State police. cost is 10.00
Field Trip Chaperones also must have them

That's what I thought.

Just like the new Medical Form and rules are a fallout from the deaths at the last Jamboree.

[wagionvigil]

Just do the training and get on with it. WE have no choice. BTW JUst heard that GSUSA are closing 6 camps in Western Pa. Soon we will have more to worry about the YPT with Boys

[smtroop168]

I recieved an email from myscouting.org this AM announcing the change and reminding all to get their training updated.

[wagionvigil]

Yep got mine this morning also

[alex gregory]

I am quite certain this is an outcome form the lawsuit we just lost out west somewhere. In PA if a parent wants to help at their kids school in any way IE: classroom help,party help, Santas helper etc. they must have a Child Abuse Background check made through the State police. cost is 10.00
Field Trip Chaperones also must have them

Big fat judgment after jury trial against the BSA here in Oregon. $1.4 million damages and $18.5 million punitive damages! That will get somebody's attention.

The plaintiff previously settled with the Mormon church (LDS troop) for many dollars. As I understand it, in addition to BSA dropping the ball the scout's church leaders basically allowed the pervert unit leader to continue to have direct contact with Scouts after he had assured his bishop/pastor that he had repented and would stop molesting boys. It's pretty awful.

The big question now is will BSA be required to disclose the "secret abuser" files.

For more of the sordid details you can check it out at

http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/04/23/oregon ... index.html

http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/04/23/oregon ... index.html

[alex gregory]

Why would YPT training of adult leaders have any effect of MBCs?

Because all counselors will be required to take the YPT course.

I don't see any new requirement for MBCs, only registered volunteers.

Effective June 1, 2010

■Youth Protection training is required for all registered volunteers.
■New leaders are required to take Youth Protection training before they submit an application for registration. The certificate of completion for this training must be submitted at the time application is made and before volunteer service with youth begins.
■Youth Protection training must be taken every two years. If a volunteer’s Youth Protection training record is not current at the time of recharter, the volunteer will not be reregistered.

[Mrw]

Why would YPT training of adult leaders have any effect of MBCs?

Because all counselors will be required to take the YPT course.

I don't see any new requirement for MBCs, only registered volunteers.

Effective June 1, 2010

■Youth Protection training is required for all registered volunteers.
■New leaders are required to take Youth Protection training before they submit an application for registration. The certificate of completion for this training must be submitted at the time application is made and before volunteer service with youth begins.
■Youth Protection training must be taken every two years. If a volunteer’s Youth Protection training record is not current at the time of recharter, the volunteer will not be reregistered.

Merit Badge Counselors ARE registered volunteers. They are just registered through the district rather than the troop. This certainly applies to them as well.

[alex gregory]

Merit Badge Counselors ARE registered volunteers. They are just registered through the district rather than the troop. This certainly applies to them as well.

Thanks for the clarification, and when I check the Guide to MBCs on the BSA website I notice a new 90-day to complete YPT training requirement that I don't remember being there before June 1st (or maybe overlooked).

Given how busy people are already, I think we are going to lose a lot of MBCs who are not already dedicated to volunteer specifically for BSA. I'll have to change my standard recruiting speech for teachers, EMTs, cops, engineers, architects, . . . . Given the built in "buddy system" protection that is supposed to be in place whenever you work on merit badges, requiring YPT for a MBC seems like overkill (especially when so many MBCs are already required to have background checking and similar youth protection training as part of their professional training). Nevertheless, I certainly understand why the policy is in place.

[FrankJ]

I am quite certain this is an outcome form the lawsuit we just lost out west somewhere

One of the issues brought up in the Oregon case was that BSA did not have an mandatory youth protection training program. I always thought it was for all direct contact leaders, but it was only recommended at the national level. Actually not a bad change.

[Billiken]

One of the issues brought up in the Oregon case was that BSA did not have an mandatory youth protection training program. I always thought it was for all direct contact leaders, but it was only recommended at the national level. Actually not a bad change.

Wonder how much the LDS church got "clipped" for.
Expensive lesson for both organizations, I'm sure.

[alex gregory]

Wonder how much the LDS church got "clipped" for.
Expensive lesson for both organizations, I'm sure.

Jury determined the church to be 25% at fault, and National BSA to be the primary responsible party. I'm sure the the Church agreed to pay a significant sum, although I doubt it comes anywhere near to $19.9 million.

[FrankJ]

Charter org. had previously settled for an undisclosed amount. They do not pay their 25% of this one. Strange since it was the the charter org. that had the information about the individual being a molester, but he agreed not to do it again so they allowed him to stay. Remember different thought process back then.

[alex gregory]

Charter org. had previously settled for an undisclosed amount. They do not pay their 25% of this one. Strange since it was the the charter org. that had the information about the individual being a molester, but he agreed not to do it again so they allowed him to stay. Remember different thought process back then.

The jury was convinced that Timur Dykes would not have been able to molest anyone as an ASM in 1983 had BSA done more to protect scouts from abusers BSA clearly knew they had a big problem on their hands and had known about the extent of the problem for 20+ years. I think that the Church bishop was the most culpable party for not doing more to stop Timur Dykes after Dykes confessed to molesting 17 scouts and then allowed Dykes to continue to serve as a unit leader and have unsupervised contact with children. The jury, however, felt that BSA National was the party primarily at fault, and that opened the door on punitive damages.

It is frustrating that the jury basically adopted a current standard of care to a set of circumstances that occurred 27 years ago. In hindsight, the church was smart to settle when they did and BSA probably should have settled when they had the chance. Although, there is something to be said about shedding light on how much BSA knew and how little was done based on that knowledge.

[Billiken]

Anybody know if BSA has liability insurance to cover something like this????????

[RWSmith]

If I may.....

Both parties are correct here. No one-on-one is the primary defense against stuff like this (and protection for the adult as well)! No background check will catch every (or even most) of the perverts. However, I heartily agree with the new policy.

1. It protects the BSA, Troop and boys against the proverbial "Black Swan." If you were ever arrested for this stuff, then you're stopped cold. Imagine the plaintiff's lawyer asking you how Joe Pervert got to be a Scout leader with an arrest record for flashing Cub Scouts and a paid-up NAMBLA membership.
   
2. It protects against a guy [person] without a sex-crime related to kids, but nonetheless, an offense I'd like to know about. Domestic violence? Multiple DUI's? Drug offenses?
   
3. YPT is a good tool to re-enforce acculturation into the Scouting world. All of the adults in the Troop are trained in the principles and, just as importantly, they know I am. (I also make sure the parents know about our Troop's "eyeball-to-eyeball" pickup policy, in which I, and/or the ASM with me, physically meet the parent and transfer the Scout/Venturer. At worst, we physically see the kid get into a vehicle with an adult we know. If it isn't the parent, we know it's a grandparent/uncle, etc., that's been cleared. I've had a discrete chat with any divorced parents and know any custody issues ahead of time.)

Overkill? Most times, it is. I held a Top Secret/SBI clearance. Among my parents who are leaders/MBC's, I have a State Trooper, two school teachers, and a man who holds a gaming license (the investigation on one of those things is amazingly intrusive). Nonetheless, all cheerfully filled out the paperwork and took the training. YPT is ALWAYS in force, but that doesn't mean the background checks have no value. If nothing else, they communicate how serious we are about the kid's welfare.

[Mrw]

You know, this would not be near so annoying if I could log in to retake my training, but even after going through resetting the password AND username in case I had forgotten them and it was me causing the issue, I still get an error.

I am getting close to my expiration on YPT and just wanted to do the right thing too!

[smtroop168]

New email today from National with FAQs on the new policy.

[RWSmith]

You know, this would not be near so annoying if I could log in to retake my training, but even after going through resetting the password AND username in case I had forgotten them and it was me causing the issue, I still get an error.

For those who prefer Google Chrome, forget it. (If you're using Chrome, MyScouting will let you reset your Username and password forever and ever. But, it will not let you log in... and what's worse, it will tell you that you did not type in the correct Username and password, when you really did!!!) CORRECTION: Google Chrome works now, probably w/i the last several weeks (for me), if I remember correctly.

MS Internet Explorer 7.0+ and Mozilla Firefox 3.0+ are both supposed to be okay. (But, I've had Firefox fail in the past.) Also, I've seen varied and different failures for both IE and Firefox, in the past, esp. w/ Firefox, even recently (and w/ IE below v8.0) So, if you're running IE v7.0, upgrade to v8.0.

So, here's my advice: Make sure your MS Windows OS and Internet Explorer are up-to-date and all patches are current. After that, clear your cookies and cache, if you have to. After that, call the BSA National Help Desk. I will post the number over in the Campfire forum.

[Mrw]

You know, this would not be near so annoying if I could log in to retake my training, but even after going through resetting the password AND username in case I had forgotten them and it was me causing the issue, I still get an error.

For those who prefer Google Chrome, forget it. (If you're using Chrome, MyScouting will let you reset your Username and password forever and ever. But, it will not let you log in... and what's worse, it will tell you that you did not type in the correct Username and password, when you really did!!!)

MS Internet Explorer 7.0+ and Mozilla Firefox 3.0+ are both supposed to be okay. (But, I've had Firefox fail in the past.)

So, here's my advice: Make sure your MS Windows OS and Internet Explorer are up-to-date and all patches are current. After that, clear your cookies and cache, if you have to. After that, call the BSA National Help Desk. I will post the number over in the Campfire forum.

Thanks for the advice. After shutting down Firefox and reopening it twice, I stopped getting the wrong username of password message and it worked fine. For something that is supposed to make life easier, electronics are often my biggest source of frustration!

[wagionvigil]

The Asst Council Exec emailed yesterday and asked me to get all the counselors at the cave to take the YPT training. This will be interesting but doable. He said anyone that signs a MB card Must take the course.