YOUTH PROTECTION TRAINING POLICIES

Important Changes to the Boy Scouts of America’s Youth Protection Training Policies

Youth safety is the No. 1 concern of the BSA. To increase awareness of this societal problem and to create even greater barriers to abuse than already exist to day in Scouting, the Boy Scouts of America is implementing several important changes to further enhance its Youth Protection policies:

Effective June 1, 2010:

• Youth Protection Training is required for all registered volunteers.
• New leaders are required to take Youth Protection Training before they submit their application for registration. The certificate of completion for this training must be submitted at the time application is made and before volunteer service with youth begins.
• Youth protection training must be taken every two years. If a volunteer’s Youth Protection Training is not current at the time of recharter, the volunteer will not be re-registered.

®If you are a new volunteer, you will need to establish a MyScouting account to access the on-line Youth Protection Training. Doing so is easy! Go to www.myscouting.org and click on the “Create an Account” link. You will be asked to select a user name (the system will tell you if that user name is available), once you establish the user name, you will be asked to enter your address, and e-mail address and answer two security questions.   Once that has been entered, the system will send you an e-mail with instructions on how to establish a password. Once the password has been registered, you will then be able to enter the MyScouting website. Once in the website, click on the e-learning icon and you will be directed to a series of on-line training courses. Click on the “take course” icon for Youth Protection Training and begin the course. The course will take approximately 30-40 minutes to complete. Once completed, print out the Youth Protection Training certificate and forward a copy of that with your completed Volunteer Leader Application with appropriate fees and signatures to your local council office.

®If you are a current a volunteer, and have not taken Youth Protection Training within the past two years, please log on to your MyScouting account and take the training. Be sure to have your member ID number. The number can be found on your Boy Scouts of America membership card. If you do not know your member ID number, and are unable to locate your card, please contact your local unit leader, or committee chair. Our council registrar (Dorothy Sands, 967-0105) can also assist you.

®If you have taken Youth Protection Training On-line but did not input your member ID number, please log back on to the training section of MyScouting and input your member ID so the training will be linked with your records

®If you have taken Youth Protection Training within the past two years, but did not take it on-line, log into your MyScouting account to ensure your records are up to date, or contact our Council Registrar, Dorothy Sands, and ask her to verify that your Youth Protection Training records are accurate.

To find out more about the Youth Protection policies of the Boy Scouts of America and how to help Scouting keep your family safe, see the information available in any of the Cub Scouting or Boy Scouting handbooks, or go to http://www.scouting.org/training/youthprotection.aspx.