Protecting our youth starts with you

One case of child abuse is unacceptable! Youth protection has always been of utmost importance to the Boy Scouts of America. The BSA continues to enhance its policies and procedures in line with the growing awareness of the dangers and challenges facing youth. In 1987, the BSA created the requirement for two-deep leadership, which means no youth should ever be alone with an adult that is not their parent. In more recent times, electronic communication has been added to the protocols, whereas no adult can text/message a youth without including a parent or another adult leader on the communication. Every two years, volunteers in the Boy Scouts of America are required to complete Youth Protection Training. The content of this is good not only for volunteer Scouters, but parents and others who work with children. This training is available for free to all through the Black Swamp Area Council website at www.BlackSwampBSA.org The BSA Youth Protection Training provides resources on how to recognize, react and report abuse. In addition, the training outlines barriers of abuse that help to prevent youth from being in a situation that would allow abuse to occur. Prevention is key! In many instances the individual who is the abuser is an individual known to the family and the victim. In addition to the youth protection the BSA requires all adults' volunteers to complete, each youth and family also are given guidance. In the front of each of the different handbooks that the Scouts/youth use in Scouting, there is a pamphlet on Youth Protection. This pamphlet is titled "Youth Protection, How to Protect Your Children from Child Abuse: A Parent's Guide". This is another great resource not only for families in Scouting, but all families. The guide covers what every parent needs to know about child abuse, including sexual abuse and how to identify a potential abuse situation and report. There are also sections on internet safety and social media safety. In addition, there are exercises on personal safety awareness that families can complete to empower their child and help to prevent any type of abuse. The Boy Scouts of America have even incorporated the personal safety awareness program into the rank advancement for individual Scouts. For our elementary-aged youth (Cub Scouts), there is the Protect Yourself Rules Adventure, with grade-specific requirements. For our middle school-aged youth (Scouts BSA), there is the Cyber Chip Award. Both programs cover how to keep one safe, recognize, resist and report instances of abuse including in the virtual/online world. To access these great resources, one does not need to be in Scouting, and they are available for free on the Black Swamp Area Council Website at www.BlackSwampBSA.org It is everyone's job to help keep kids safe. Youth protection begins with you! Kogan has been serving the Boy Scouts of America as a commissioned professional since 1998 and is currently the Scout Executive/Executive Director for the Black Swamp Area Council. The Black Swamp Area Council serves 13 counties in northwest and west central Ohio with the programs of the Boy Scouts of America.