Are you involved in amateur youth sports? How about a travel team that competes outside the state? Perhaps you run this sports organization or perhaps you are a coach, volunteer or parent.
If you are part of an amateur youth sports organization that participates in interstate or international competition, you now fall under the mandate of a new federal law, “Protecting Young Victims from Sexual Abuse and Safe Sport Authorization Act of 2017 ” It is better known as the Safe Sport Authorization Act and it is designed to minimize the risk of child sexual abuse within your sports organization.
Your amateur youth sports organization now has very specific requirements for athlete protection.
- Your staff, volunteers, and “anyone these organizations authorize to interact with minor amateur athletes” are required to report known or a reasonable suspicion of child abuse to local law enforcement within 24 hours;
- Your organization is legally required to have policies & procedures that specifically address child sexual abuse prevention & response;
- Your organization is legally required to train staff, volunteers, and anyone authorized to interact with minor amateur athlete on child sexual abuse prevention and response; and
- Your organization is legally required to provide parents training on child sexual abuse prevention and response. Parents aren’t legally required to participate in the training, but your sports organization is required to make it available.
What was once considered ‘best-practices’ in child protection is now federal law.
In my next blog, I’ll talk about the possible consequences to non-compliance.
Best regards,
Toby
starkcg.net 