April is Youth Protection Month
April is the month to promote Youth Protection Training to all adults who are planning to attend summer camp with your unit. Adults accompanying units on activities who are
present at the activity for 72 hours or more, must be Youth Protection
Trained and officially registered with the BSA. The 72 hours need not
be consecutive. The Boy Scouts of America’s Youth Protection Training is
mandatory for all registered adult leaders in all programs. Other
adults participating in Scouting are strongly encouraged to take this training. Youth Protection Training reflects
the BSA’s commitment to the safety of all youth.
Taking the Training
To take the training visit www.my.scouting.org and login if you are an
existing member, or create a new account if you are new and about to
register with the BSA. Once on www.my.scouting.org, click on the Youth
Protection icon, add the Mandatory Training to your learning plan,
click on the My Learning tab and select the training from your plan.
Once the training is complete, existing member’s training records will
automatically be updated with the certification. All new to
Scouting wishing to register must print their certificate and submit it
with their application to the council service center.
Printing Training Completion Certificate
The training certificate will only be available for printing after
completing the three required training modules and passing the test
which completes the Youth Protection Training. It may take an hour or
so for your training certificate to become available. It will be found
by logging back on to www.my.Scouting.org and selecting the menu button
in the upper left corner and clicking on My Dashboard. The certificate
can be opened for printing by clicking the print icon on the right
side. After clicking the print icon, the certificate opens as a pdf
that can be printed and/or saved.
Questions or technical issues contact Member Care at (972-580-2489) or myscouting@scouting.org.
Youth Protection Training for Youth Participants
Youth Protection Training for Youth is also an extremely important
step in ensuring thast all youth in Scouting are safe. Every Scouting
unit is expected to provide this training annually to all new families,
and provide the opportunity for all members every two years as
a refresher. These videos are available at: http://www.northernstar.org/youth-protection (under documents) and include:
- "It Happened to Me" for Cub Scout youth
- "A Time to Tell" for Scouts BSA youth
- "Personal Safety Awareness" for Venturing youth
Please make time this April to conduct the appropriate Youth
Protection Training for Youth in your unit. It should be
conducted at least once a year, and there is no better time than prior
to summer camp and other outings to get it done. Thank you for taking
the time necessary to
ensure that all Scouting volunteers and youth members have a safe
environment to experience everything Scouting has to offer.
If
you ever have any concerns about other leaders and their compliance
with youth protection rules (two adults at all times with all Scouting
youth, both “inside and outside” of Scouting events; separate sleeping
accommodations; separate shower/bathroom facilities) call the Northern
Star Council Youth Protection Tip line at 1-888-213-0364.