MamaScout

Thanks everyone. He hasn't earned his Wolf rank yet, he's working towards it. He has earned his bobcat and was given that patch. We do have his book and have been signing off things in there. Some of the things were signed off by his old pack leader though, who isn't registered, so I was worried that those things might be the ones that need re-doing. He has earned a few arrow points (1 gold, 2 silver) but I realize he can't actually receive those until he gets his Wolf rank. He's also earned a belt loop and is close to earning a few more. The one he's earned hasn't been presented to him yet; I am waiting to give the loop and S&A patch to the new pack's den leader so it can be presented to him there. (We buy our own patches and loops in this pack, as the "treasurer" refuses to pay for them out of the $2 per week collected in due money.) Our Council Shop will sell you a rank badge without paperwork on the promise that the paperwork will be turned in asap, so I don't know if my son's bobcat advancement sheet was ever actually turned in. I had to go up there and buy 2 bobcat badges for boys that the den leader "forgot" to buy badges for and didn't know the boys' full names, and the Council Shop still sold me the badges and sent me home with the form to bring back whenever I could. Also they didn't ask me for any type of verification when I bought the belt loop and S&A patch, but I think that program is just taken on faith anyway, yes? We paid our fees directly to the Council Shop when we discovered the fees hadn't been paid by the church's pastor (as was promised by the den/pack leader); this is how we're paid up in a pack that doesn't exist. Confusing, eh? Our shop is closed until Jan 3rd so I'll find out about his official registration/rank status then. In the meantime, I'll just talk to the folks at the new pack, fill out a new registration form and check the little transfer box, and hope for the best. The new pack can always turn in a form with his bobcat status (and belt loop, if that should be turned in as well) if things aren't official. Btw I've now talked with one of the other wolf cub's grandparents (he lives with them, not his parents) and that cub will be moving to the new pack with us. So there will be at least friend there he already knows. Woohoo!

There have been so many issues with our pack that it would take me 3 pages to list them. It would absolutely disgust may of you long-time scouters and leaders. Watching the "leadership" of the pack trying to break into a church right in front of the cubs, for example. Anyhow, my problem is this. From the time my son signed up in September, our pack was never actually chartered. It had already passed the rechartering date and was in limbo status. Now it's the end of the year, our council shop won't be open again until 2006, and the pack still isn't rechartered. The ONLY adult leaders who were registered and paid up were my husband and I, and we're leaving. The ONLY cub who was registered and paid up was my son (he's leaving too, of course). We are going to be moving to a nearby pack - one that IS chartered and official and well-established. I know that when you change packs you have to do some kind of transfer form... will my son be hindered in any way being that the pack he was didn't really exist for the time that he was in it? I'm going to be asking this question of our new pack's cubmaster of course but that could be more than a week away so I thought I might get a quicker answer and some suggestions here. Before advising me to contact anyone in our present pack (the one we're leaving), please note: We do not have a committee We do not have a cubmaster Our District Commissioner's stance on this pack is basically to throw his hands up in the air and hope that it magically fixes itself (my previous requests to him for information on joining another pack were met with "stay with this pack and try to whip it into shape, you can do it"). This isn't said negatively; he just has run out of options at this point. The acting leaders of this pack don't listen to nor respect the District Commissioner and do everything their own way (some of those things being absolutely against BSA policy) - I think that at this point, the poor guy has just given up trying to get anything done with this pack because his previous efforts have slammed his head into a brick wall. There are NO (none, nada, zip, zero) registered and paid adult leaders in this pack once my husband and I leave... I have never even met our COR and have no idea if he's paid up; his name isn't on our roster so I doubt it. Also no one at the Council office can help me as our pack doesn't even exist in their list because we've gone so long without rechartering. The remaining 5 cubs that are in the pack are NOT paid up in their fees to the Council so they never finished registering. (The one adult who is acting as the leader told their parents he'd get the pastor of our church to pay the registration fees, and never even attempted to do so.) (Our roster has 27 cubs from last year and there were about 25 who signed up in September and have since dropped out due to the mismanagement of this pack, so that's 50 boys lost to scouting - probably forever given the horrible experience this pack gave them - in a matter of months.) Yes, the 5 remaining boys are meeting each week under the guise of being involved in the BSA and they'll be in quite a pickle if anything happens. I've written an email to our District Chairman informing him of all of this, hopefully he'll be able to shut the meetings down before something goes wrong and the parents try to make the BSA accountable for it. It gets scarier, believe me. For now I just hope to have my son transfer smoothly and have his achievements recorded with the BSA. He's been disappointed and let down by this pack enough already, to tell him he'd have to go back and re-do everything he's done so far would just crush him and his spirit for scouting. This is a kid who has dreams of one day being an Eagle Scout. Btw he's 7, homeschooled in the 2nd grade, and is a Wolf cub. (Well he would be if his pack actually existed to the BSA. Arrgh.)