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Health & Fitness

Advocate Sheds Light on Boy Scouts' Perversion Files

Protect young people from sexual abuse.

From 1965 to 1985, the Boy Scouts of America were keeping records of suspected child molesters within their organization. Due to a civil case in 2010, a jury in Oregon found the Boy Scouts of America liable in pedophilia.  BSA was ordered to pay $20 million.

Part of the evidence presented in the 2010 civil case was proof that the BSA knew it had child molesters among the organization. On Thursday, the Oregon Supreme Court ordered the release of the 20,000 pages of documents known as “The Perversion Files.” Six cartons of documents reveal 1,200 people according to JDJournal. The worrisome part is – those are just the ones they suspected.

I am not writing this to bash the Boy Scouts of America. As a matter of fact, BSA have a very good Youth Protection policy. However, the fact remains that child molesters are attracted to young people. They will want to volunteer for them, work where they learn and play, and they will do whatever it takes to get close to their prey and their prey’s family. Child molesters are not the strangers in the park; they are people you know and trust. With or without policies in place, predators will be around young people. 

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It is up to every youth serving organization to have policies in place that protect young people, but more importantly it is up to EVERY adult to make sure what these policies should entail, that policies are in place, and that they are being enforced.  But policies are not enough. It should be incumbent that every adult, especially every parent, know the signs of abuse, know the signs of grooming (see definition here: Child Grooming), and know how to respond to a victim in need.

There is no excuse for every parent not to learn how to prevent the sexual abuse of children. Prevention is so practical, that earlier this year the City of Sandy Springs awarded a grant to the Georgia Center for Child Advocacy to train 600 adults that live, work, or play in Sandy Springs on how to prevent child sexual abuse. 

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"We thought this was a valuable service to the community," said Mayor Eva Galambos.  The initiative first got under way on June 7th, with a “Prevent Now!” breakfast hosted by City Councilman Chip Collins. The outcome of the overview meeting was the booking of the first FREE training session scheduled for June 20th.

The details for the training are below. If you have a child or ever were one, please make the time to become aware. 

Training Date: Wednesday June 20, 2012

Time: 9 a.m. - 12 p.m.

Location: New York Life Office - Suite 1100

5909 Peachtree Dunwoody Road, Atlanta, GA 30328

Call 770-730-2000 for directions

THIS FREE TRAINING IS FUNDED BY A GRANT FROM THE CITY OF SANDY SPRINGS

For more information please contact Willa Boswell (willab@gacfca.org) or call 678-904-2880.

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