Re: Pregnant scouts...
Settummanque, the blackeagle (waltoml@WKUVX1.WKU.EDU)
Thu, 30 Jun 1994 12:29:49 EDT
Randy Finder <NARAHT@DRYCAS.CLUB.CC.CMU.EDU> writes:
>
>I understand that this may be a touchy subject, (see rec.scouting for why :(
>but it is quite reasonable for there to be pregnant scouts. Pretty much
>all Scouting organizations have their top age for being a youth participant
>higher than the legal age of marriage in that area. For instance, Virginia,
>USA has a marriage age with parental concent of 16 and youth membership
>can go all the way up to 21 (for explorers).
>
>Couple of questions
>
>1)has anyone actually dealt with a pregnant youth member
>of their scouting organization. (Although UK, Canadian, Aussie Rovers go to 26,
>stories from there are appreciated.)
I have had TWO pregnant youth members in various Exploring units that
I've served as Advisor or Post Committee Chair of. There were no
problems with either, from the other adults, from the other youth nor
from the chartered organization (one was in a community activities
post; the other was in an Explorer Ship). The only thing that we had
to be careful of is their level of outdoor activity and in those
cases, we let the mother-to-be to give us a statement from her doctor
as to what she CAN and CANNOT do. In Rae Ann's case, she had her
child during Christmas holiday and returned to the Ship in the late
spring. Unfortunately, she decided to do something really stupid, and
she died after being involved in a high-speed car "race" at the north
end of the post (an abandoned road, her finace the driver and
forgetting about safety concerns. The car ran into a military vehicle
which was turning onto the road as a shortcut to the installation)
during that summer. Her child is being raised by her father and
mother now.
The other girl was in a community activities Post, chartered to the
Mayor's office in Rose Terrace (my hometown). She later got married
to a soldier and left the Post after the baby was born. I don't
remember she having any problems (other than not being able to find a
XL shirt...she was one of those "special women" that could carry a
child without not really "showing" that she had a child. She was a
little heavyset already, and so the additional childweight didn't make
that much more difference.
Both women took part in outdoor activities including overnight
campouts with the Post or Ship...and as far as I know, they didn't
have any problems (except perhaps some sleeping problems, which are
natural to anyone).
>2) BSA Specific: are a married couple who are youth members treated any
>differently than any other two youth members of the opposite sex by
>the Youth protection Policy(YPP)?
Yes and no, Randy. The BSA's YPP don't really address the point of
married couples in a unit; however, "Scouters' Sense" says that
married youth couples are treated as married adult couples are
treated: that they may choose to sleep together, AWAY from the other
adults AND away from youth members; or that they may choose to sleep
with another adult of the same sex in the "adult area" of the unit.
In this case, the married couple I worked with chose to do the former,
and to sleep away from both adults and youth, in a separate tent
together rather than to sleep separately with a tentmate of the same
sex. Again, like any youth members, they are accorded the SAME
protection as other youth members in any other situations.
Settummanque!
--
Settummanque, the blackeagle... (MAJ) Mike L. Walton (
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