How to include cubs in pack campout when no adult / familymember is availible... what has worked for you?

[DeanRx]

I have a few (3 or 4) cubs in our pack that are very active and their families contribute to "make the pack go" as much as possible. The issue I am running into - these boys have fathers who are active duty military- deployed on ship for 6 months at a time. They are stationed here, thus mom has very little to no extended family in the area (no grandpas, uncles, etc close by). Scouts also have very young siblings (i.e. less than 2 years old) and mom doesn't feel comfortable "family camping" with baby in tow.

 

Since ALL cub camping (except for Webelos) is supposed to be family camping - what if anything can the pack leadership do to facilite these boys being able to attend our pack campouts?

 

Can another adult be given the responsibility as the "adult partner" for a non-familiar scout? Example - close friends of this family has both mom and dad involved in the pack. Is it permissible to have "mom" be the adult for the military scout's on a pack campout? I understand fully the G2SS and that these boys would have to agree up front to sleep in a "scout's olny" tent and not be able to sleep with the adult "neighbor".

 

Has anyone else ran into this issue and how did you overcome it?

I want to make sure we are in line with BSA policy, but also want to afford these few scouts the opportunity to camp with the pack if they so wish.

 

Thanks in advance for your words of wisdom.

 

Dean

(This message has been edited by DeanRx)

[Twocubdad]

Yes, what you've outlined is acceptable.

 

G2SS, Pack Overnighters -- "In most cases, each youth member will be under the supervision of a parent or guardian. In all cases, each youth participant is responsible to a specific adult." Note that this is not bold-type so there is some flexibility in it's implementation.

 

When I was Cubmaster we added a couple requirements. First of all we had a simple authorization form which required the signatures of the parent, the adult accepting responsibility for the Scout and the Cubmaster or campout leader. We had one situation when a parent dropped a boy off to be supervised by another adult, but that person wasn't aware of the arrangemnt.

 

We also had a rule that none of the leaders could be responsible for a Scout other than their own. This was open to a bit of interpretation, but the idea was that the folks with the responsiblity for running the event shouldn't have the added responsiblity of looking after someone else's kid.

 

The last rule was that no adult could be responsible for more that one additional Scout. This was to prevent a den leader from doing an end-run around the prohibition against den campouts.

 

The last two point were (I think) at one time part of the national guidelines.

[HiLo]

I had a breast feeding mom on our family camp last year. Tell that mom with the young'n that she will have a ball!

 

(I know it's not going to work for everyone. Just having a boast here really.)

[Scoutfish]

We have a bear cub who unfortunatly, lost his mom and da a few years ago. He lives with his grandmother and grandfather.

 

Well, they are not too keen on sleeping in a tent, so they letthe boy travel attend the pack/family campout with the cubmaster ( who is also a family friend) .

 

The boy participated in all day time events like normal, but slept in his own tent which just happened to be set up within a few feet of the Cubmaster's tent.

 

So far as I can tell, everything went off without a hitch. Biggest factor ( aside from permission slips) might be how brave that scout is sleeping all by himself in a tent.

I suppose you could take one under your wing and let him sleep in atent with your son, seperate fromyou that is.

The worse thing I see is few scouts staying up too late and being especially grouchy/ sleepy in the morning. LOL!

[ghermanno]

DeanRx,

 

The military member (and spouse) ussually have other military friends in the area. they also have access to the LegalCorps. They can get "Limited Power of Attorneys" or any other document you'd like to allow the boy to go with another adult.

 

Now, if the parents do not have anyone they would accept to watch/care for thier boy during a campout, it is thier responsability to attend.

 

I have never had to refuse a boy a camping trip due to parents deploying or having duty. We were allways able to get another parent permission and the boy had a GREAT time.

 

Don't forget, this will also affect "Single Parents" whether active duty or civillian.

 

My $0.02

 

YiS,

 

Rick

[Basementdweller]

Great advice.

 

I would only like to add that the RESPONSIBLE ADULT should not be the trip or camp leader. The event leader has enough on their plate.

 

What I have done is put my son in the tent with the other scout so he has a tent buddy.

[DeanRx]

Thanks for the responses. I figured we could work it like that. The tenting situation is probably not a big deal, because we usually have a couple "scout's only" tents on our pack family campouts... They are usually big family sized tents and the Tigers/Wolves/Bears in one and the other with Bears/Webelos in it. Usually about 8-10 boys racked out in a given tent. Then we just have a couple adults sleep on cots or the ground about 5 ft outside the door so that if any scouts have an issue in the middle of the night, they can contact the adults outside the door for help.

 

I'll look into the POwer of Attorney - we have a couple lawyers on our committee so hopefully they can help determine if its needed over and about a permission slip for the lad.

 

Mom is pretty hardy, but I doubt she wants totry and brave it with a 1 y/o in tow when she has two cubs in the pack. That would be alot for one parent to take care of... a baby, plus two cub campers. Plus, I'm not sure mom is even the camping type.

 

Again - thanks for the advice, we'll see what we can do to accomodate these guys.

 

Dean