scoutlaw74

Thank you, and I understand. My son is also a cadet colonel and Spaatz award recipient. We are confident that the truth of what happened will be determined. My son is handling this with patience, integrity and tremendous grace given all that is happening to him, and this is what we expect from our Eagle scouts and Spaatz cadets. He will be okay, but as a parent I hope for the sooner the better.

While I agree with you, we do believe the truth will come out. And even though it is a private organization, my son is entering the military where his Eagle rank will impact his pay. Midshipmen and Cadets at the Service Academies receive full enlisted pay and Eagle rank boosts his rank and pay. We are confident the truth will come out, unfortunately we are hearing from others speaking to us in support, false accusations are a rampant problem right now.

With all due respect, my son is not going to just move on, he is an applicant to the US Naval Academy and US Air Force Academy. He is a recipient of the NROTC scholarship. He is not moving on, he has also earned multiple accolades in Civil Air Patrol, including Spaatz, which is harder than Eagle (and rarer) and has additional awards that I cannot state here as a quick internet search would reveal his identity. He was selected this year to represent CAP for a second time in Washington DC to meet with all three branches including the President. He has a future ahead of him that he considers the traffic warning he received for forgetting to turn on his lights a blemish. He has never touched alcohol or drugs, never done anything remotely inappropriate and values his reputation and his future. This is a kid with 13 palms, he loves scouting and he and I both believe that the truth will come out. Being an obedient scout, he is not letting go of this in a respectful way, and his rightful pursuit of the truth is the correct thing to do otherwise false accusations are a stain on scouting and the truth for when it does happen. There’s a reason trustworthy is the first scout law.

I can see that but we are both are now sort of thinking that we welcome law enforcement to investigate as he is fully innocent and we believe that the truth will likely come out faster and more directly with law enforcement being involved. It is a crime to lie to a police officer, and my son is not worried about being arrested or charged as he didn’t do this. We do welcome a law enforcement investigation.

Dear God! This person should be removed from scouting. That is horrible, and he should be prosecuted for such horrific criminal behavior.

And they still were excluded from scouting after being exonerated? I apologize, but this doesn’t make sense. There must be a review/appeal process for such situations. This is horrible if I understand this correctly.

Thank you for the advice, as far as my son and I understand these accusations have only been shared to adult scouters by the individual, parents are not involved. My son has good relationships with most scouts, but he tends to have more conservative views of the world. He was accused by another female scout of being a racist and homophobic, but he’s not. He actually reported that individual’s comments toward him and asked for a restorative conversation as he didn’t understand where that comment was coming from. Regardless false accusations against a youth are horrible. There certainly is no place in scouting for such behavior. Such things destroy the fabric of a Scout is Trustworthy, Obedient and pretty much everything else. These things destroy lives.

This was a statement made in an anecdote someone mentioned in this thread unrelated to what my son is going through. I just want to point this out.

Thank you for noting this, but, would a youth falsely accused and exonerated really still be excluded from scouting? This would devastate my son. He’s an active Eagle scout. He hasn’t done anything wrong. Is it really BSA policy for an accused and exonerated scout to be excluded?

This is something my son and I have discussed….this is very, very serious, and my son knows it, he also knows he didn’t do this and he has faith that the truth will come out. He was following the buddy system too. What I don’t understand is how can a scout make such a serious false accusation and persist in doing so? How does a scout live with themselves in good conscience having done something that can ultimately be illegal? My son, having taken to heart the lessons of scouting, and he had an amazing scoutmaster who constantly taught his scouts this, still says that when this is all over he hopes that whoever did this still has a chance to remain in scouting and to learn and grow from this, in other words, forgiveness. I have always said that the true measure of a scout is how they live the scout law when its hard to do so, when one is faced with a challenge, my son is doing just that…this all just demonstrates what a wonderful program scouting is, and I believe there will be a positive outcome from this experience.

Wow, these are really horrible things…thankfully my son is forthcoming, cooperative, respectful and patient. He is providing all that he can to support his innocence, and it appears that the council is demonstrating trustworthiness and is thoroughly investigating, which he knows the truth will come out of. My scout is also reverent, and he is holding onto his faith, Sunday night he fell asleep in prayer with a blemished rustic knotted wooden cross he loves in his hands. I do have faith that truth will prevail for him.

Thank you so much, he is only 17 and he is heading to the military and he is also a Spaatz Award recipient in Civil Air Patrol (which is even more rare than Eagle, and he’s the 2296th recipient in the history of CAP). He states himself that the Scout Law shapes his character and the core values of CAP, especially Integrity, shape his personal leadership philosophy. He is also a reverent scout and lives with faith in his heart. He doesn’t want to resign or lose scouting. He has remained active even after earning his Eagle rank (no “Eagling out” for him). He loves scouting and is committed to the program and we both have faith that the truth will come out. The most difficult part will be what happens when it does. My son originally asked for a restorative conversation with leadership when he first reached out about the bullying, and I know it is going to be difficult for him to deal with the consequences for the person making these accusations as I know he’ll want forgiveness and a conciliatory approach (that’s just who he is) but I don’t know if that will happen or should happen. Sadly, you’re right, stuff like this makes it incredibly difficult for BSA to discern the truth when scouts make false accusations. Ultimately the truth is going to come out, and above all, a scout is trustworthy.

Thank you so much for the advice. Since I posted here my son has learned more, and it appears that he was accused by a female scout of inappropriate behavior and making threatening statements, which are not true. Thankfully after my son has respectfully addressed the situation, and although it is being taken seriously as he and I both recognize it should be, my son is providing the council with extensive documentation to demonstrate that this did this not happen and that he was not present at the said time this allegation occurred. I am actually quite proud of him as he is definitely conducting himself in a trustworthy, courteous, obedient and patient not to mention respectful manner as an Eagle Scout should, and the council is thoroughly investigating this in a thorough manner with his complete and respectful cooperation. He is mostly saddened that a fellow scout would accuse him of this, and he doesn't understand why he was targeted other than the possibility that there is a group of girls who do not like him because he has expressed more conservative political beliefs in the past (there was also some bullying about this that had occurred prior to this toward my son, which he ignored but is now being taken into account). I deeply appreciate the advice offered, and we believe that the truth, as it always does, will prevail, and we both hope that the person who made these allegations learns and grows through the scout program from this experience. Thank you all for your advice, this was a rough weekend, but my son is confident that the Scout Law and truth will prevail.

Hello…looking for some helpful advice here. My son, who is an Eagle Scout and a member of his OA Key 5 was told today that he is under investigation at the National level for an accusation he knows nothing about (nor has he engaged in any inappropriate behavior). He’s 17 and devastated. We were just wondering what the procedures are for investigations. He is also heading into ROTC in the fall and is also applying to the military service academies. He is absolutely devastated and confused as to what this is, why it’s happening to him and what the next steps are. Can anyone please advise on what the investigation procedures are in scouting? I understand not all can be disclosed but a general understanding of what happens would be helpful to him. He is beyond devastated by this. Thank you all!