Freddy

Thanks for the information from the Guide to Safe Scouting. Reading further down in the same chapter however, I find the following statement under unit responsibilities. "The unit should inform the Scout executive about all incidents that result in a physical injury or involve allegations of sexual misconduct by a youth member with another youth member." From this I'm lead to believe the unit is supposed to be informed of allegations between youth members and they "should" not "must" pass these allegations on to the Scout executive. Also, I'm a bit confused as to who the Scout executive is. Is this the District Commisioner or is there normally a deadicated person to take complaints?

Here is the situation. On a Troop campout one of the two scouts sharing a tent accused the other scout of attempting to fondle him. The accuser has a clear memory of the event while the accused maintains he was sleeping and has no memory of the events. Parties informed were the PA, CC and SM. The issue was brought up with the parents of the accused whose comment was the son is a restless sleeper and tends to thrash about in his sleep. Without going into detail, the description of the events by the accuser was more than just someone thrashing about in his sleep. Currently the solution at the Troop level is to watch the accused boy more closely and place backpacks/duffel bags between him and whomever else he tents with. Understandably the parents of the accuser are not happy with this solution and are seeking advice on what to do next. The PA is also understandably nervous about putting a potential abuser who is in their charge in a tent with another boy. It is also unclear at this point if the SM or CC seeked advice from District/Council or if they are trying to address it within the Patrol only.