Letter: Cartoon on Scouting did huge disservice to volunteers, they say

TO THE EDITOR: The editorial cartoon appearing in your Oct. 31 edition called “Boy Scout Knots,” attacking Scouting for failing to protect children, was so outrageous in its mischaracterization of Scouting and blatant in its misstatement of facts we cannot understand what your objective was in printing it.

Any report of child abuse of any kind triggers three immediate actions in Scouting:

1.Notification of law enforcement authorities.

2.Immediate removal of the leader.

3.Ongoing communication with families and other affected parties to enforce policies and accountability as well as provide support.

Scouting is one of the safest places in our community for all children and child safety is at the forefront of all Scouting activity. Leadership involvement, parent engagement, youth and adult training, and continuous conversations on abuse prevention facilitated between parents and their children help to create a community safer for all young people.

Scouting’s program includes aggressively screening volunteers (including criminal background checks); training of youth members, parents and leaders; maintaining and establishing abuse barriers, such as requiring two adults always be present; and clear, immediate reporting procedures.

The recently released ineligible volunteer files from 1965-1985 the cartoon presumably referenced were among those collected nationwide since the early days of Scouting (1920’s), identifying individuals who had been dismissed from Scouting and kept as a barrier to their re-entry. The files predate the technology available for databases today and keeping such information is still a best practice today as defined by the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in their 2007 report on youth protection.

The cartoon did a huge disservice to the hundreds of volunteers who have helped and are helping young people in Ellsworth grow in character, citizenship and fitness through Scouting for nearly a century. We are proud of our Scouts and leaders.

Tags: opinion, letters, ellsworth