Will there be a problem transferring my son to another pack?

[MamaScout]

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.)

[evmori]

TO answer your initial question, no it shouldn't be a problem. When you sign on with a new unit, you will need to complete a new application for your son, yourself & your husband. There is a block on each application you will check to indicate you are transferring. The transfer fee is $1/person.

 

Good luck in your new unit.

 

Ed Mori

Troop 1

1 Peter 4:10

A blessed New Year to all

[Eagle447]

I hope this does not upset you any further:

 

In our Council it costs one dollar to tranfer to another pack.

 

Since your pack does not exist in the eyes of the Boys Scouts of America.........everything he has done does not exist in the Boy Scouts of America

 

However..........You say he had joined in Sept. so thats about four months time.you say you are paid up but if you never chartered where did your money go?

 

How can you transfer from a pack that does not exist?????

 

My suggestion is (and I hope others on the board and double check this) Chalk this up to a life experience and start fresh with your new pack.......from what i remember about cubs..............the parent signs off

on the tasks.........

 

I can only conclude the work your son did in a pack that does not exist.the work does not exist itself

 

I hope OGE or other very senior members read this and correct me if i am wrong..................What a frustrating situation.

[ScoutNut]

To verify your registration check with your council office. Even though your Pack has not been rechartered, if your registrations were entered into Scoutnet by your council you are still registered members of BSA. Filling out the transfer portion of the registration form for your new Pack would suffice. If they don't have your registrations in their computer, then you will have to pay your $10 National registrations again.

 

You say your son has only been a member of BSA since this September. Has he earned his Wolf rank yet? If not you should have no problems. He will not be required to "give back" any awards or recognitions he has earned to date (including rank if earned). You should have been working with him in his Wolf book & signing off on things he has finished. This is his record of achievements. Give his new Den Leader his book so that they can update their records & he should be fine.

 

If he has already received his Wolf rank you will have to do a bit more work. After you have verified weather or not your council has your registrations, you should verify if your Pack turned in an advancement form with his rank on it. Because most councils will not sell rank awards without an advancement sheet, they probably have. However, on the off chance they did not, you can explain the situation to your new Pack's Advancement person & have them simply turn in an advancement form with his Wolf rank listed on it.

 

You really should not have any problems. Let your new CM know the situation with your old Pack & make sure your new Den Leader has all of your sons records & you will be fine.

 

Have fun in your new Pack!

 

[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!

[scoutldr]

This is wrong on so many levels...I feel for you. I would be interested to know how the Council took your registration money to join a unit that did not exist (valid charter). At the very least, I think they owe you a refund so you can pay it to your new unit. Unless you were registered under some other unit, or as District Members-at-Large, there was no way to process your application. You and your son's applications (and money) should not have been accepted without the proper signatures on them. If you don't have a COR, CC or CM, I would want to know WHO forged their signatures! You are correct about the liability issue...that is a huge concern, and the DE should be resolving this with the CO without delay.

 

Fortunately, in Cub Scouts, advancement records are not strictly tracked as they are in Boy Scouts, so this is not something that will come back to haunt your son when he's 17 and filing his Eagle application. The Arrow of Light is the only Cub award that the scout takes with him to Boy Scouts. Go ahead and register with the new unit, allow him to wear his Bobcat badge with pride, and sign off the Wolf requirements that you know he has completed. The new Den Leader should take that at face value.

 

Happy Scouting!

[Vigil-Hiker]

How do they function? No leadership, no money. My Gawd!!

 

Den Leaders are supposed to have Individual Tracking Sheets per boy to track attendance, join date, and progress toward Rank. This is supposed to be taken with you to the new Pack. If have you that, it should make things a little easier for the transfer in order to show what has been completed, in addition to his handbook records.

 

Run, don't walk to the new Pack. They are wide open to personal law suites, have no insurance, and are impersonating an Offical Nationwide Nonprofit Organization since they do have a Charter and refuse to follow the rules. It would be no different than claiming to a priest in the Catholic Church or a Red Cross represenative. They are a fraud and a not legitimate pack.

 

Best of Luck.