PARENTinSCOUT

So much forlorn and losses being shared, but the truth shall set you free! I find BSA a microcosm of our real society, so people including many esteemed leaders will fall into groupthink mode and then fight tooth and nail for a tiny perch on the organization's hierarchy. I fought hard to protect the scout's spirit of my kids and others and too was alienated for pointing out the wrongs. Whistleblowers don't win even when I successfully showed that the charter was really and truly corrupt and in trouble with the state's attorney general office. I believe I saved a bunch of kids from ba

CommishJulian, you are a scouter on fire! When I had to explain to little cub scouts Duty to God, I honestly told them my view that it's duty to your conscience because that's where God resides. This works because kids don't know what God is, and neither many adults, but they know what conscience and right vs wrong is. For older scouts I explain further that it's also the duty to discover the special meanings in life and the gift of joy. That is finding the wonders of God. I wish I could model that for the kids rather than just mere words. And here is an adult Scouter, Comm

I applaud your spirit, because that by itself is what to me scouting is all about. Scouting is real and most impactful when the going gets tough and principles are all but lost. I believe your hard work will leave a lasting legacy and rich rewards. May the Scout force be with you, CommishJulian!

Mattr should remove info deemed necessary for privacy. I posted the entirety of the email to show it's authentic from the BSA and to make the point that the lack of a nonretaliation policy in YPP is deliberate and not a simple omission. My point in adding nonretaliation language to YPP is not to change how the National or local Councils run themselves, but to buttress the seriousness of YPP in scouting. First, nonretaliation is community standard. Everywhere I looked among youth service organizations, explicit requirement for reporting always go with confidentiality and non retaliati

Here's an official reply I got from the BSA about instituting a non-retaliation policy. The BSA's position is that non-retaliation is such a no-brainer concept, so why should they have it? After all, it's "inherent in the Scout Oath and Scout Laws" that retaliation should not happen. Well, abuse should not happen also but it does therefore BSA must have Youth Protection training. Actual and threats of retaliation is a sure mechanism of any abusive relationship, so it's a no-brainer that any effective Youth Protection should have a credible deterrent against retaliation as well. Non-retal

I did both. Got my kids and a hundred scouts relief from humiliating and punitive practices coming from old scouting methods in Asia. Good riddance and I don't want to elaborate the details. I hope to get rid of the fear of authority in scouting too, thus my push to update YPT. Respect yes, fear no. Will wait to collect my $200!

To Hawkwin, I appreciate the camraderie in your concerns and comment. I don't have an open complaint with my Council right now except I did wish that the mother who was mistreated got a proper apology from the offending CO. In my Council, there are immigrants wanting to do their own troops. The Council encourages them to form Charter Organizations- scouting-only COs. When the troop is its own CO, the leader becomes the Key One rather than Key Three as required by BSA. Name borrowing is what they do make it look like key-three. The Key One structure is essentially a dictatorsh

A question to you: if the past and possible ongoing sex abuse problem within BSA which threatens the viability of the scouting movement is not sufficient to convince the organization to have a prudent non-retaliation statement in its Youth Protection Policy, then what will compel it to do so, except with outside pressure? A petition on change.org is what I am thinking is needed to bring about this very small but essential improvement in YPP.

Yes, I have contacted the relevant people in the district and Council specific to the policy update. Their usual response is nothing, and I assume that it is because they know I am part of the "hot-potato" issue with a troop in their district and they don't want to be near it. It is fair to be concerned that someone like me is seeking attention on a wide policy issue in order to get ahead on a small local conflict. I presented my argument to the Council (council executive) that BSA Youth Protection policy clearly states that reporting process should reflect community standard (i.e.

I really appreciate this forum, and glad to have found it. Until now, I felt listened to by various people in scouting community but not heard. Thanks for your time and honestly. I m hipeful good changes will come.

I am sharing my personal angle to why this particular incident most bothers me. The policy or lack thereof, is gender neutral but its impact is not. The original concerns came from mothers and the people who handled their concerns poorly are fathers and impacts are on sons. There's a lesson about gender relation to be learned here. Policies for good or bad do impact people differently, and I felt strongly the gender angle should not be missed especially in a gender-based organization. When I told the chief Commissioner this perspective before he agreed to review my incident report

Oops, when I said CO, I meant CE (council executive).

This accurately summarizes my concern. I wanted the Council or District to send a statement to the offending troop and the indirectly to the community that retaliation by social pressure (true in this case) or by other means that disadvantage the participation of scouts are not to be tolerated. The Council is free to adjudicate what is bona fide retaliation and what is reporting in good faith after the complaint reached them. What I as a parent in 2017 did not have was a BSA statement stating the community standard of non- retaliation so I can take it to the "key three" and put them in

The specific incident involved parents bringing up concerns only to "key three". The request was denied and the leader of key three swiftly broadcasted to a dozen leaders that the reporter made false accusations and threatened her with consequences. At this point, the parents brought the concerns to the Council which they, in their language, used the word "corporal punishment" in stopping wayward scouting practices. All "accusations" were true, but settled. But the Council left the issue of retaliation untouched. The reporting parent to this day still receives no apologies from the

I discovered this surprising fact after raising a complaint to the Silicon Valley Monterey Bay Council in 2017 about my troop leader explicitly calling out a parent who brought forward concerns that children were stressed and one suicidal in part due to punitive scouting practices. The leader claimed the parent was spreading false rumors and threatened consequences (all documented in an email) when in fact, a scout did have suicidal thought and implicated the stress to problematic scouting practices which involved hazing, corporal punishment and inappropriate manipulation of advancement proc