Venturing Youth Protection

[Melgamatic]

I have a situation in my unit (for which I am the CC) which makes me uncomfortable.  It's not so much the facts, but rather that I think it conflicts with YP training. 

 

We have a youth member (17, male and mature) who is "friends" with an unrelated adult leader (35-ish, male, married, no kids).  The leader is a key member of our unit, and serves as an adult leader on our weekend overnight events which happen almost every weekend.  Without his service the unit would fail.  There is always at least one other leader on our weekend activities (often me), and the unit follows various YP and safe scouting guidelines, but this leader is always there whenever needed.  

 

However, the youth and the adult end up alone together a lot.  The adult leader has hired the youth to help clean out a barn at his farm.  They have driven alone together to various events, and the adult has visited the youth at the youth's place of employment to say hello.

 

The youth's family seems to be OK with this.  The father is also a sometimes active member of the unit, so he knows the adult leader well, and the adult leader has been sometimes invited to eat with the family, etc.

 

I have no suspicion that anything untoward is happening.  

 

But, I keep thinking to myself that this is against Youth Protection Training, which I think tells us that a leader CAN NEVER be alone with a youth.

 

I've mentioned this to the adult leader, and he says "What if it is non scouting related?  I spend a lot of time with the family and the youth helps me work around my house."

 

Am I too strict and should not be worrying about this?

 

Or should I be worrying about this?

 

-Melgamatic

 

[Stosh]

It sounds as if the boy's parents are fully aware of what is going on.

 

There doesn't seem to be a problem within the unit.

 

What is being expressed is occurring at non-scouting situations.

 

The boy is 17 years of age.

 

If the adult wishes to circumvent the YPT guidelines, he does so at his own risk.

 

The BSA rules of 18-21 still listed and treated as youth membership is an arbitrary rule created by BSA but has no bearing on any legal definition of adult vs. minor.  The boy's parents are legally responsible for his welfare.  I would defer to their judgement and stay out of it.

[NJCubScouter]

Melgamatic, first, I wonder about the fact that you say you have no suspicion that anything untoward is going on, but several paragraphs earlier you said that these two individuals are "friends", and the quotation marks were yours. Usually when one puts "friends" in quotation marks there is a suggestion that something is, or may be, "going on." So do you suspect something or not?

 

Second, you say that the two of them "have driven alone together to various events." Are you talking about Scouting/Venturing events? If so, then that does sound like a no-one-on-one violation.

 

If you have no suspicion, and if the adult leader is not driving the 17-year-old to troop/crew events alone, then I generally agree with Stosh that as far as the unit is concerned, nothing is being violated. One point that Stosh makes does need to be clarified, but I don't think it really has anything to do with your situation since the youth is under 18, and it is this:

 

The BSA rules of 18-21 still listed and treated as youth membership is an arbitrary rule created by BSA but has no bearing on any legal definition of adult vs. minor.

Actually for YP purposes, individuals "18-21" (21 meaning, until the 21st birthday) are no longer considered "youth." They may be "youth participants" in a Venturing crew (though actually I think the terminology is now "adult participants" as opposed to "adult leaders" but they are considered adults when it comes to enforcing all the YP rules. That change was made in 2013 or 2014, I believe.

[qwazse]

@@Melgamatic, sounds like you did due diligence bringing up the issue with the adult.

 

To continue his membership in the organization, the venturer will be required to take youth protection once he turns 18. If he is anywhere near his birthday, you may want to ask him to do so. That way, without harping on the specific situation, everyone gets put "on notice."

 

Welcome to boots-on-the-ground reality. We all draw different lines between our personal lives and our scouting lives. And this  certainly becomes the case with these older scouts ... many of whom worm their way into our families because we have proven to be trustworthy. Venturing certainly can make this even more complex. Many of these youth have small business (yard work, house sitting, small automotive) that rely on one-on-one contact with adults for most transactions. What becomes hard-and-fast for younger scouts, begins to blur for older ones.

Edited November 10, 2016 by qwazse