Predatory Behavior at Summer Camps, Demand Change
Camps can be fun and rewarding. But I remained stunned about the shocking lack of safety oversight and protections.
As mentioned in other articles on this site, California of all places does not license or regulate its day camps. And its overnight (otherwise known as “resident”) camps are hardly regulated. But do not for a minute think that other states are doing a bang-up job either.
This is a national disgrace.
Here is the primary worry. We have seen so many recent barbaric sex abuse scandals, including Boy Scouts of America, USA Gymnastics, USA Swimming, USA Taekwondo, the Olympics Committee and… summer camps.
Why are we not demanding more camp oversight so that children are not abused if not raped and forever broken because of it? We know of thousands of camp abuse cases. We also know that 70%+ of child abuse is not reported.
Tens of millions of children will go to camps each year. This is a $25 billion industry. Why are we failing to execute the absolute best health and safety protocols for our most vulnerable citizens? And why is only one organization — the American Camp Association — the go-to accreditation agency? There is no excuse for this.
New York has a Camp Safety Task Force. However, a recent video of one of their board meetings illustrated an extraordinary amount of bias where it concerned running camps during COVID-19.
Camps are child care centers. Many of them offer high-risk activities. All of them, regardless of whether they are a science camp or a full-on outdoor camp in the traditional sense, must be required to provide background checks, references and licensing agreements. Why is it OK for them not to?
Camp lobbyists like California Collaboration for Youth and the American Camp Association will tell you that licensing is too burdensome, too costly. I will tell you that those are extremely worrisome excuses that perpetuate myriad, well-documented problems. I am also going to tell you that licensing fees should be determined by counties, not by Doug Forbes or lobbyists.
I think it is time to come together to right this wrong. And we must do it now. More on our efforts to protect children from sexual abuse is coming soon.