Safeguarding, Child Protection and Abuse in Sport by Melanie Lang Mike Hartill

Author:Melanie Lang, Mike Hartill [Melanie Lang, Mike Hartill]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780415829793
Barnesnoble:
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Published: 2014-07-14T00:00:00+00:00

Many children remain without policy protection

The number of NGBs that have signed up to the USOC’s SafeSport mandate is as yet unknown as the deadline for implementation is not until 31 December 2013, after this book went to print. USOC admits it is difficult to identify how many people are served by all NGBs, but estimates the most recent USOC quadrennial census report suggests there are 3,220,988 NGB-affiliated athletes (USOC 2008: 29). Consequently, even if NGBs enforce USOC’s policy at a local level, a relatively small number of youth sports participants will be affected as USOC can only enforce the policy on NGBs in its four member categories – in NGBs of sports on the programmes of the Olympic, Pan American and Paralympic Games and other recognized sports competitions. Many more non NGB-affiliated youth sport participants fall outside USOC’s SafeSport mandate because it is not applicable to non-NGB organizations. For example, the estimated number of youth participants served by CBMOs – a non-NGB USOC membership category – is 60 million (USOC Multi-Sport Organization Council 2012). No information is yet available to indicate if or how these organizations will be required to implement policies to protect athletes. One suggestion is that USOC require all members to adopt and enforce an athlete welfare strategy as a condition of membership and/or funding. Meanwhile, some non-profit organizations, like Safe4Athletes (2012), are working to get local sport programmes to adopt policies and prevention programmes. However, these efforts are stymied by a lack of finances and the lack of practical incentives, such as requirements for such programmes at a community level.

Meanwhile at a grassroots level, NGBs do not have a system for notifying other clubs of pending criminal or civil lawsuits against coaches, and small youth sport clubs often do not require criminal background checks as a condition of employment. Therefore, if a coach abuses but leaves a club before the abuse is detected, or if an allegation is not reported to the police, they can be hired by another club or programme or open their own independent youth sport business without anyone knowing their background. In addition, some clubs may be afraid of firing an abusive coach for fear they will be sued for wrongful termination of contract, and some clubs may not report misconduct to protect their reputation, believing instead that as long as they remove the coach their job is done. Smaller community clubs may not even be aware of state mandatory reporting laws. Furthermore, most parents associated with local clubs are volunteers, not professional sport administrators, and are therefore not trained to deal with abuse allegations.

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