Troop 419 and the Youth Protection Program

Troop 419 is committed to following all guidelines of the Youth Protection program. The BSA has developed a five-point plan to combat child abuse and to improve the environment in which young people live. The key elements of this strategy include the following points:

• Educating Scouting volunteers, parents and Scouts themselves to aid in the detection and prevention of child abuse.

• Establishing leader-selection procedures to prevent individuals with a history of child abuse from entering the BSA leadership ranks.

• Establishing policies that minimize the opportunities for child abuse to occur in the program of the Boy Scouts of America.

• Encouraging Scouts to report improper behavior in order to identify offenders quickly.

• Swiftly removing and reporting alleged offenders.

Any suspected offenses of the Youth protection program must be reported to the Committee Chairman, the Scoutmaster or the Council Executive. All incidents reported to the Committee Chairman or the Scoutmaster will be reported to the Council Executive. All reports are taken seriously and appropriate action is taken to ensure the safety of the youth. All adult leaders are required to take the BSA Youth Protection Training every two years.We encourage our parents to take the online training also. The website to take the free online training is: https://my.scouting.org/.More information on the importance of Youth Protection Training can be found at http://www.scouting.org/Training/YouthProtection.aspx.

The Boy Scouts of America has developed materials for use in the Scouting program that provide essential information to members and their families. A detachable booklet in the front of The Boy Scout Handbook,"How to Protect Your Child from Child Abuse: A Parents Guide," provides information to help families to increase self-protection skills.