| Author |
Messages |
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Lessingham
Provost
Posts:117
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| 04/16/2007 9:30 AM |
 Alert
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The following came across the Sumits list
From: seneschal@sca.org
Date: Apr 10, 2007 2:32 PM
Please release the following information to your Kingdom officers
{all}, Youth officers {all}, Seneschals {all}, Marshals {all}:
In response to repeated occurences of the SCA having to deal with
abuse of
minors by SCA participants, risk to our membership from such
predatorial
behavior, and legal liabilities if we fail to execute proper due
diligence, the SCA will be implementing a background check program to
minimize risk of harm to our people and the organization. This
program
will revolve around conducting--via a properly licensed vendor--
background
checks on all persons wishing to serve in a leadership or supervisory
position where minors are expected to be taking direction from--or
be in
the direct control of adults who are not their parent or legal
guardian.
An example of officials who must receive the background check are:
Youth
activities officers at all levels, Adults acting as youth marshals
for any
martial activity, persons organizing/in charge of youth activities
for an
event.
These checks will return a pass/fail status. A pass status will
cause the
corporate office to issue a card good for two years that must be
presented
in order to be accepted as an official as described above.
It is expected that this process will be streamlined and simplified
as
much as possible without invalidating the value of the background
checks
themselves. The cost of the checks will be billed back to the
Kingdoms
whose programs these volunteers are supporting.
It is worth noting that these measures are less stringent than those
being
used today by the Boy Scouts of America.
Further details, to include the actual process and an implement-by
date
will accompany the implementing guidelines to be issued after the
April
Board Meeting.
Aaron Faheud Swiftrunner of the Stone Keep OL OP
c/o George L. Reed
Society Seneschal and Vice President of Operations
SCA, Inc.
This is a response letter that John James issued in Caid and shared on the West Kingdom list.
Folks I thought I would share this little tidbit of info that has
been under discussion in the Caid youth combat community. I believe
it applies here, because many kingdoms have fencers that are allowed
to practice and authorize as young as 14 in some kingdoms. Although
the discussions started in youth combat, this will be applied to ALL
combat forms dealing with youth (not my words). Read and debate.
Below is what I've posted in Caid's YC and Rapier lists.
Greeting all,
First off, I have children and maintain extensive security /
background checks due my work, but this is sounding more like an
exercise in liability protection versus actual youth protection. I
wish that the BoD and our Society officers would stop assuming that
we are idiots in couching it this way.
No matter how you cut it, this is disturbing. When costs are passed
back to the kingdoms, it mean the cost is passed back either to the
populace as a whole or individually to the marshal and officers in
question. Again, I will clearly state, this is not an insubstantial
amount of money. If this was a government directive, it would be
referred to as an unfunded mandate to the states. In this case, it
will mean higher surcharges, more paperwork and a greater invasion of
the modern world to our sense privacy.
Master Aaron notes that there were 88 revocations of status and 29
for 'predatory" activities. I'm not a great satitistical analysist
but those sound bad till you consider there, over 20,000 active and
paid members in the SCA. That's .00145 or .145% of those players.
Let's make that an even number of 30 and assume that those 30 heinous
people only represent 10% of the actual predators out there (the ones
who got caught). That makes it 300 Society wide, which equates
to .015 or 1.5% of the entire SCA paid populace are threats. That is
a ridiculusly low number. Worth the efforts and costs?
Consider that this will affect all of Caid's youth officers & youth
marshals directly. That's about 40 people, but wait, they aren't the
only ones affected. This is also affect each and every heavy, rapier
and archery marshal in the kingdom too. Why? We have youth under
the age of 18 participating in the three weapons forms. Youth 14 and
up in rapier, 16 and up in heavy and (correct me if I'm wrong) 14 and
up in archery. That jumps the totals to nearly 400. Oh and add in
any Knights that aren't senior marshals since they will also be
implicitly working with our youngsters too. Is the picture becoming
clearer?
Consider that on average, standard background check (basic commercial
level) costs $25 to $35 per person. With a little simple math, one
year's worth of background checks will cost (400 * 30) = $1200 (in
Caid). Assuming our fellow kingdoms have even remotely similar
number and counting 16 mainly US, this is nearly $20,000 in costs,
simply shuffled to the individual kingdoms. Notice that I didn't
mention the kingdoms with large territories in Canada, the Pacific
Rim and Europe? Kingdoms with large non US territories face the
problem that background checks in foreign countries are insanely
expensive or illegal to obtain on a non-commercial basis (special
license or status is required in the EU for example).
What happens to the small percentage of people who get false
positives and are flagged because of a similar name? What happens to
the people with a criminal record (non-pedophile) that are flagged?
This excludes people from AYSO soccer and the Scouts regularly.
Since those were examples, what's to say this isn't going to happen
in this usage?
This is a really bad, really ill conceived and poorly thought out
plan. It was conceived not as a measure to protect children; it was
conceived as a measure to protect the SCA Inc from liabilities. This
very lame idea will cause more harm than good. Write your
seneschals, write the BoD, and write your kingdom Ombudsman. Tell
them what you think. It's time to take back the SCA from the `well
meaning' lawyers.
Yours in service,
HL John James MacCrimmon
Youth Combat and Rapier (Provost)Marshal, Kingdom of Caid
Mundanely (Screw PC)
JB Smith, Major, USAFR (inactive)
From the original letter to the Kingdoms and subsequently posted to
Caid Boffer/Youth Combat lists:
Forwarded By Request.
Forwarded to the List By Permission of the Society Seneschal.
Background Checks for Youth Officers.
Please release the following information to your Local and Kingdom
officers:
In response to repeated occurences of the SCA having to deal with
abuse of minors by SCA participants, risk to our membership from such
predatorial behavior, and legal liabilities if we fail to execute
proper due diligence, the SCA will be implementing a background check
program to minimize risk of harm to our people and the organization.
This program will revolve around conducting--via a properly licensed
vendor--background checks on all persons wishing to serve in a
leadership or supervisory position where minors are expected to be
taking direction from--or be in the direct control of adults who are
not their parent or legal guardian.
An example of officials who must receive the background check are:
Youth activities officers at all levels, Adults acting as youth
marshals for any martial activity, persons organizing/in charge of
youth activities for an event.
These checks will return a pass/fail status. A pass status will
cause the corporate office to issue a card good for two years that
must be presented in order to be accepted as an official as described
above.
It is expected that this process will be streamlined and simplified
as much as possible without invalidating the value of the background
checks themselves. The cost of the checks will be billed back to the
Kingdoms whose programs these volunteers are supporting.
It is worth noting that these measures are less stringent than those
being used today by the Boy Scouts of America.
Further details, to include the actual process and an implement-by
date will accompany the implementing guidelines to be issued after
the April Board Meeting.
Aaron Faheud Swiftrunner of the Stone Keep OL OP
c/o George L. Reed
Society Seneschal and Vice President of Operations
SCA, Inc.
FAQ
The SCA has long had a policy of parents being ultimately responsible
for their children at SCA activities. We have policies in place
prohibiting a single adult from being alone in supervising youth that
are not their children by birth or legal document. These have not
sufficed to prevent harm to some of our minor participants at the
hands of adult participants.
Since 2002, there have been 88 revocation and denial of membership
decisions rendered by the Board of Directors. 29 of these have been
for conviction of predatory crimes. 24 of these have been with regard
to abuse of minors. It would seem clear that the old policies are not
sufficient to protect our minor participants. Any number greater than
zero of these incidents is profoundly unacceptable.
There are many organizations similar to the SCA in that they have
well-defined programs for minor participants. These organizations
conduct a due-diligence check of volunteers who would like to be in
positions of control, teaching, or supervision of minor participants.
The vast majority of these organizations vet possible volunteers via
background check. There are a variety of methods used.
The SCA feels a responsibility to the wellbeing of our minor
participants and will implement a program of background checks to
enhance their safety.
Some Questions and answers about this endeavor follow:
Q: Are Kingdoms required to implement the Society policy?
A: Once upheld by the Board of Directors, the Kingdoms will have a
timeline to implement the policy or cease offering youth-activity
programs.
Q: I had a background check for work. Can you just use that?
A: No. All checks for this program will be performed according to the
same criteria and by the same vendor for all participants. The vendor
is a licensed, bonded provider of background examinations.
Q: Will the SCA be privy to specific details of my background,
whether I pass the exam or not?
A: No. The SCA will only receive a pass or a fail notice from the
background-examination provider.
Q: Will my personal information be exposed to other SCA participants?
A: No. Information is provided directly to the vendor in order to
perform the background examination, and does not go through the SCA.
Q: How long is my pass status good for?
A: It is planned that the pass status will be good for two years.
Q: Will all existing officers have to be checked?
A: All officers/volunteers with supervisory positions, teaching, or
direct control of minor participants new or existing would
require a background examination.
So.... I am wondering what the official response is from AnTir's kingdom marshalate structure? |
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"The Will is the captain general of our army and our fortress."
1587 F. Ghisliero pg. 108 |
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jgreywolf
Hai Gioco?
Posts:685
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| 04/17/2007 3:53 PM |
Alert
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Right now - there is no response. Until heard otherwise, this is not a requirement in An Tir.
(polite) Commentary is still being accepted, and I have submitted my thoughts. That being: the danger that the SCA is trying to protect itself from cannot be addressed in this manner. I know quite a few people (unfortunately too many...) that had been abused when they were younger - and always by someone that was within the family, or a trusted friend (of the family).
Tell me how background checks will resolve this. Ever wonder how many cases of abuse are NOT reported? |
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Justin Greywolf (SCA: Ramon Diaz de la Vega)
Director
Old World Martial Arts - Teaching Historical Italian Swordplay in the Pacific Northwest |
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Morleigh
Free Scholar
Posts:61
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| 04/21/2007 10:10 AM |
Alert
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I think that making our thoughts known directly to the BoD is essential. This seems very poorly thought out and has the potential, if implemented, to make playing our game nearly impossible as the number of people willing to go through the paperwork to volunteer will be small.
Perhaps someone can come up with a better solution to the problem and suggest it as an alternative. |
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godvonrav
Provost
Posts:86
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| 04/22/2007 10:21 AM |
Alert
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| gee....I don't know...how about having the parents/guardians of the minors be at the activity...like they are supposed to be. It is stated over and over again that SCA activities for youth are not babysitting services, and that the parent/guardian is supposed to be present. |
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Don Godfrey von Ravensburg
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Lessingham
Provost
Posts:117
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| 05/16/2007 3:42 PM |
Alert
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http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07129/784449-85.stm
Well this sheds some light on the subject.
Seems to me however that the SCA isn't responsible as the abuses took
place at non-SCA activities where the parents left their kids in the
care of the individual - sometimes overnite.
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"The Will is the captain general of our army and our fortress."
1587 F. Ghisliero pg. 108 |
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Lessingham
Provost
Posts:117
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| 05/30/2007 9:48 AM |
Alert
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An update on actions taken by the society.
http://seneschal.westkingdom.org/Youth%20Activities%20Memo.pdf
These are official requirements and all marshals or other officers or
parents should read them and the policies that they reference.
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"The Will is the captain general of our army and our fortress."
1587 F. Ghisliero pg. 108 |
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jgreywolf
Hai Gioco?
Posts:685
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| 06/06/2007 10:04 AM |
Alert
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At least there is nothing about background checks yet  |
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Justin Greywolf (SCA: Ramon Diaz de la Vega)
Director
Old World Martial Arts - Teaching Historical Italian Swordplay in the Pacific Northwest |
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