News: Soccer Coach caught on Dateline "To Catch a Predator

Discussion in 'Girls Youth Soccer' started by Norfolk, Jul 26, 2008.

  1. Norfolk

    Norfolk Member

    Mar 22, 2001
  2. MenaceFanatic

    MenaceFanatic New Member

    Oct 5, 2004
    Unfortunately, it doesn't surprise me. It just shows you that the "disclosure" and "risk management" forms are worth nothing more than the paper they are written on. Diligence and vigilence are becoming even larger roles of parents these days.
     
  3. PERFDBDAN

    PERFDBDAN New Member

    May 6, 2004
    Menace,

    No one should let down on diligence and vigilence, but "disclosure" and "risk management" forms are also vital.

    The story relates that this person had no prior record. As such a back ground check would reveal little. However, back ground checks have caught many potential problem coaches. In Associations where they have been mandated, that has been an average 2% of the coaches who quit rather than take them. In one case a coach quit a soccer association that required back ground checks and went to a parks and rec league and began coaching girls basketball. He was later arrested for molesting one of the girls on the basketball team and it developed he had a prior record of child molestation.

    The risk management proceedures worked for the children in the soccer association. The parks and rec league did not have them and their children paid a price that the insurance settlement will never fully compensate.

    There are many programs that go beyond back ground checks that are beginning to be implemented. They aid parents and program administrators in protecting children - in practising that diligence and vigilence. One such program is called Darkness to Light. We are urging our leagues and clubs to look at it and others.
     
  4. MenaceFanatic

    MenaceFanatic New Member

    Oct 5, 2004
    Well put, Perf. I didn't mean to say that we were wasting our time on the security measures, just that people slip through the cracks in any disclosure program. My point was only that we, as parents, need to be ever vigilant and can't sit back and assume that any risk management program will take the place of our vigilance.
     
  5. rca2

    rca2 Member+

    Nov 25, 2005
    Asking someone to swear they are not a felon and then relying on it to protect your kids is simply stupid. Maybe the club gets cheaper liability insurance rates for this paper exercise, but nobody should expect felons to be truthful about their crimes. It seems to me to be nothing more than an attorney's idea of a way for a club to avoid civil and criminal liability and provide a public relations spin if the worst should happen.
     
  6. PERFDBDAN

    PERFDBDAN New Member

    May 6, 2004

    Any organization that only collects a disclosure statement and stops there is brain dead and I seriously doubt any lawyer, even a lobotomized lawyer, would suggest collecting the disclosure statement is all that is required.

    The disclosure statement is used to collect information that is then used to perform a back ground check. There are various levels of back ground checks and some youth sports organizations have been found negligent when they sought only a very basic level.

    In one case in Washington State, a youth sports orgainization used the Washington State Police to run background checks. The only check run was on Washington convictions. There was no check of the National Data Base, which would have disclosed that a coach was a convicted child molester in California. To do the additional Nationwide check would have cost about $1 more.

    In that case the Youth club and their insurance carrier paid a substantial amount, which included puntatives for which there is no insurance coverage.

    Obtaining insurance coverage for child abuse by a youth organization is very difficult today unless the organization is actively performing back ground checks. Simply getting a disclosure statement will not get you insurance.

    The disclosure statement should be designed to give information on the porspective coach that will allow the organization to do a back ground screen on the coach, check his prior record, his description to see if it matches who he says he is and more.

    As in must things you get what you pay for. A thorough check, depending on where you live and whether they have computerized access to local records, can cost between $8 and $25 per search.

    The Federation has mandated in ByLaw 212 that all orgainzations that "recruit" members - which means all youth organizations have risk management plans. They have been lax in enforcing this, for example USSSA states on their web site they have no risk management plan other than to state they do not support child abise. Region I has also failed to adopt a plan. However, Region II, III and IV have and every State in Region II has.

    Here are the applicable USSF Bylaw and Policies:

    Bylaw 212. GENERAL RESPONSIBILITIES

    Section 1. Each Organization Member shall satisfy all of the following requirements:

    (7) if the Organization Member is responsible for recruiting, training, fielding
    or funding soccer players, it must establish a risk management program that evaluates potential registrants to determine whether their participation poses a risk to the safety of other participants in the Organization Members’ activities.

    Policy 212. Reporting Risk Management Disqualifications

    Every Organization Member which has a risk management program shall submit to the Federation the following information within ten business days of any action, and again in a report submitted at least once per year: (1) the names and dates of birth of any individuals disqualified from participation or thereafter reinstated under the Organization Member’s risk management program and (2) the reasons such individuals were disqualified or reinstated.

    Policy 601-10 – Recognition of Risk Management Actions

    Section 1. A disqualification or other disciplinary action for violation of Risk
    Management policies imposed by an Organization Member against a person participating or seeking membership in a program of USSF, an Organization Member, or a program of an Organization Member shall be recognized by all Organization Members.

    Section 2. A Risk Management disqualification imposed by an Organization Member upon a prospective member who has been convicted of a felony, a crime of violence, or a criminal offense against a person shall be recognized by all Organization Members upon proper notification to and by USSF.
     
  7. Jumbo1

    Jumbo1 Member

    Feb 19, 2000
    TN.
    I coach and my day time job has been in the background screening field for a number of years. Most of the searches that are done are not really extensive and it would cost a lot more than $25.00 to do a really thorough background screening. There are always things outside of a background check that can just never be known until it happens. Here are some of the reasons why the background checks aren't always that effective. Also, it can be quite a chore cleaning up the false hits on your name, if it's a common name, especially if your Hispanic, and you have to go through the process of disputing the information that just links your name and not other identifiers.

    In order to be really effective, there are many factors to take into account. Let's use the name, Robert Allen, as an example. To do an effective search, you probably need to pull records on Bobby Allen, Bob Allen, and Robert Allen. Of course there is always Robbie Allen and Rob Allen. That could be at least 5 searches for that one name.

    Suppose that Robert Allen lived in Los Angeles, CA and moved from New York, NY. You need to do a search on his social security number and find all the addresses that come up for him to determine which counties to conduct your searches. It will also depend how far back you want to search, which will also affect cost. Those two areas could have quite a few counties to search, depending on where he lived.

    You might say, just order the national criminal records search; however, those are not all that great, from my experience. Additionally, most court records don't have SSN, so there will be a ton of results for a name as common as Robert Allen and all the possible matches.

    Everyone will search for criminal records I am sure. Do you want the driving records, in case there are any tickets involving the use of alcohol? There are many more searches that can be done. You can search the internet for postings and webpages that wouldn't be acceptable.

    Anyway, I don't think most of the searches that are performed are very extensive and it would cost a lot of money to do a really extensive search on all the coaches. I have seen background screenings for executives that commonly run over $2,000.00. I would doubt that that type of search would ever need to be done, because those are searches included the following records: county criminal, state criminal, federal criminal, county civil, federal civil, sexual offender registry, online public records search, recorded judgments, state and federal tax lien, US criminal records, national law enforcement submission, professional license, employment verification, newspaper and periodical. There are more, but you get the idea.
     

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