Re: Curiosity between GSUSA and BSA
Kim Hannemann (khannemann@WORLDBANK.ORG)
Fri, 27 Sep 1996 13:48:12 +0000
Jason writes,
>In the process of one of her training sessions today, some of
>the people, all of whom are girl scout leaders, began comparing
>stories of abused children they have had in their troops, or
>children who were neglected in some manner, ie, parents who simply
>"forgot" to pick the kids up, etc. The GSA equivalent to a district
>executive stated that rare is the troop that does not have such
>problems.
>I have been in BSa for almost 20 years. There has been, in my local
>experiences, the "sensational" story of abuse, but I have never
>heard of it being stated as "almost every troop has this sort of
>problem." Even at my Adult Leader Basic course, someone asked a
>hypothetical question about suspected abuse, and no one had enough
>experience, except the DE present, to answer the question.
This ("rare is the troop") is correct in my experience - at least for
the 4 GSUSA and BSA units I have been associated with. (Uh, no
connection, I swear . .)
But don't infer the GS exec's statement to mean that there were
problems WITH the units. The "neglect" or "abuse" is not (often) in
the unit but in the home, and it doesn't take the newsworthy form. It
is more of the "forgot to pick up" neglect, or verbal/psychological
abuse, rather than "sensational" physical/sexual abuse. And it seem
equally common with both boys and girls. It isn't widespread within
each unit, but there always seem to be one or two kids dealing with
it no matter where you go.
Kim
khannemann@worldbank.org
Terry Howerton Sakima Group, Inc. SCOUTER Magazine Kansas City |
