morgan Posted October 23, 2012 Share Posted October 23, 2012 I have two children very far apart in age. My oldest participated in Girl Scouts for 8+ years and I was involved as as parent and a couple years as a leader. Parents were always welcome to attend meetings and this was especially encouraged when the girls were young. This year my five year old joined American Heritage Girls (Christ-centered scouting) after visiting twice. We paid a small fortune for dues, books, uniform, etc. I was told last night when we arrived that I was not welcome to attend troop meeting unless I wanted to join the organization myself as an adult leader/volunteer. Parents are considered a distraction and not allowed in the room. This was never mentioned or even hinted at to me before joining. I was taken aback by the closed meeting to parents, given the age of the girls (Kindergarten) and my previous experience with scouting was so different (and I suppose because this AHG troop is made up of mostly homeschooling families). Because there is a religious component to the program I would really like to be able to hear and observe what my child is being taught; but I am not excited about having to join or commit to be part of the leadership. Also, I should note I do not know any of the parents or participants, these are complete strangers in a neighboring town telling me I must leave my child with them. I can appreciate they have their own established rules and I am not asking them to change their views; but I just find this policy odd and am considering pulling my child from the troop. Any thoughts of what you would do in this situation? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ms3mama Posted October 23, 2012 Share Posted October 23, 2012 I wouldn't be comfortable with that. Are you right outside the room? Who takes the girls to the restroom? Do the adults have child safety clearance? I guess there are a lot of questions you would need answered. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lily_Grace Posted October 23, 2012 Share Posted October 23, 2012 In your shoes I would ask to see where it is written in the policy - council or organization policy, not troop. That doesn't sound right, especially for 5yos. I can see a request of parents sitting quietly in the back but not to exclude them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joshin Posted October 23, 2012 Share Posted October 23, 2012 That sets off all sorts of red flags with me. i have no experience with AHG, although I have plenty of experience with the other scouting movements. Generally, open door policies are encouraged and parents are never excluded because of child safety issues. With older kids, we usually encourage parents to wait in another room, but our meeting room remains open and parents are encouraged to walk in and observe, but not interfere, whenever they like. I would find out the exact rules of the parent organization. It could be the leaders misunderstood the leadership requirements. Most scouting organizations have rules that all volunteers must have background checks, but parents attending only with their child and not acting in a volunteer capacity don't have to submit to checks or volunteer requirements. It could also be they are short on volunteers and this is their way of trying to strong arm people into volunteering. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
morgan Posted October 23, 2012 Author Share Posted October 23, 2012 I wouldn't be comfortable with that. Are you right outside the room? Who takes the girls to the restroom? Do the adults have child safety clearance? I guess there are a lot of questions you would need answered. The leaders/adult members are supposed to be background checked. The girls use the restroom with the "buddy system" in pairs with no adults typically. I was told I could stay on the premise (a Church), but not be in the room which is in the basement. I find this strange too, as parents milling around the building not being accounted for brings up some safety issues. But maybe I am being paranoid. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chiguirre Posted October 23, 2012 Share Posted October 23, 2012 I'd either become a leader or pull my dd from the troop. I don't find being a GSA or Cub Scout leader terribly time consuming, especially if you're going to stay at meetings anyway. It would have been nice if they'd told you all this before you joined and bought the supplies, but I'd try to put that irritation aside and consider if you're willing to be a leader. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lily_Grace Posted October 23, 2012 Share Posted October 23, 2012 I was told I could stay on the premise (a Church), but not be in the room which is in the basement. I find this strange too, as parents milling around the building not being accounted for brings up some safety issues. But maybe I am being paranoid. If your gut is telling you it's wrong, it probably is. Paranoid or not, it's a real concern that should be addressed satisfactorily. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
umsami Posted October 23, 2012 Share Posted October 23, 2012 That's weird. I checked the national org's website and there is nothing that says adults can't attend. You would think it would be in the Parent FAQs. http://www.ahgonline.org/pages/page.asp?page_id=41554 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brenda in FL Posted October 23, 2012 Share Posted October 23, 2012 If it's a new troop, everyone is learning the ins and outs! AHG requires that adult volunteers complete a background check. You can become a volunteer without registering as an adult member. (Troop Board and Unit Leaders do have to be registered members). Once they have processed your background check you should be able to serve as a parent volunteer in your child's unit. Again - you don't have to register as an adult member with AHG. You simply fill out Form 1 (and pay about $10 for the background check). Please talk to your troop coordinator about this issue. Again, if it's a new troop, they are still learning all that is required. AHG troops have to maintain 2 - deep supervision and there is a leader to girl ratio that must be maintained. All leaders and volunteers have to take the Youth Protection course that the BSA provides. The organization does have the girls safety as a priority. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mom2samlibby Posted October 23, 2012 Share Posted October 23, 2012 I had to apply to be a leader with girl scouts this year to stay with my DD. I think anyone that works with children in that type of setting needs to have a background check. I would become a leader. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
In The Great White North Posted October 23, 2012 Share Posted October 23, 2012 I had to apply to be a leader with girl scouts this year to stay with my DD. I think anyone that works with children in that type of setting needs to have a background check. I would become a leader. AHG requires that adult volunteers complete a background check. I think it was just worded poorly by the leaders. It's not that you can't come - it's that you have to be covered by their insurance (either AHG or whoever owns the building they meet in). In the last 5-10 years, a lot of organizations have started requiring ALL adults near the children to have a background check and/or join the organization primarily for their liability insurance. It's not beyond the realm of imagination for one child's parent to abuse another child, and the organization is taking no chances. I have seen the same thing at swimming, CAP and Girl Scouts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rosie_0801 Posted October 23, 2012 Share Posted October 23, 2012 In my experience, they are right about parents being a distraction. I would expect to be allowed to stay the first week but not after that unless parental help was required for some reason. If you aren't ok with that and don't want to become a leader, pull her out and find somewhere that suits. They're not the only mob around. :) Rosie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarinesWife Posted October 24, 2012 Share Posted October 24, 2012 Deleted Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarinesWife Posted October 24, 2012 Share Posted October 24, 2012 Deleted Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lea_lpz Posted November 7, 2012 Share Posted November 7, 2012 We just recently joined AHG and they needed a pathfinder leader so I went ahead and volunteered so my dd could have a unit to belong to :). Anyway, from our understanding from the website, pathfinders is actually supposed to be a parent participation troop- having parents present for meetings. Maybe they can just have you do a background check, which our troop paid for directly. Hmmmm...in my opinion having a parent present for each girl would be great! You need a lot of one on one to help girls that young do a crafts. We have 4 very active pathfinders in the troop and they keep me on my toes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Mungo Posted November 7, 2012 Share Posted November 7, 2012 (edited) AHG is relatively new on the scouting scene and some of their policies are still a little nebulous. Originally, AHG said that parents had to stay with Pathfinders. More recently, that has been questioned because 1. some groups had parents of Pathfinder girls in other leadership positions (and our troop is predominantly military so dads or other family members are often unable to attend) and 2. AHG (the national organization) wants *all* parents who are regularly meeting with the girls to register as volunteers, be background checked and have BSA youth protection training. In our troop we have compromised. The parents who want to stay can, but parents do not have to stay. If they are going to stay regularly, then they must have a background check (which the troop pays for) and do BSA training, but they don't have to register as volunteers and pay $26 more dollars to volunteers. Different troops are being told different things though and not all troops have the money to pay for background checks for everyone. So, I would bet it has more to do with what that troop has been told by national than parents being a distraction. Edited November 7, 2012 by Mrs Mungo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lea_lpz Posted November 8, 2012 Share Posted November 8, 2012 Thanks Mrs. Mungo! That clarifies matters much more and we are in the same boat. Two of my girls are already troop moms and 1 little girl has a singleother so she works and can't make it. So as it's small with only 4 girls we are fine without the parent participation, but it would be helpful if we could have parents volunteer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarinesWife Posted November 14, 2012 Share Posted November 14, 2012 This year all new troops' background checks are being done/paid for by National. Next year it's all new adults for all troops. And the year after it's all renewals that need to be done. Those last two might be the other way around. Anyway, within 3 years all background checks will be done by National. This will be really helpful!!! :) We do require all Pathfinder parents to get a background check. I had a Pathfinder last year but am in a different role in which I couldn't sit there with her the whole time. We teamed up Pathfinders to take care of that issue, but all other girls had a parent ... . or they had to be in different role. Also, I was just at the National conference and one of the sessions talked about the new Honor Award. One of the requirements is parent involvement ... there are percentages. Like 80% or something ... I have it written down somewhere. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
higginszoo Posted November 14, 2012 Share Posted November 14, 2012 As a Girl Scout leader, I'm supposed to have anyone who stays in the meetings on a regular basis registered and background checked. I don't necessarily have them go through leader training, but for the safety of all the girls, I need to make sure that any adult in the room with them regularly is checked, and membership is the vehicle to doing that. I certainly welcome any parents who want to stay, but I have to be consistent. The same is required in my boys' Boy Scout troop. Any adults regularly at the meetings and certainly any adult on any campout needs to have YPT and background check. Since we're sponsored by a Catholic Church, we're one of their youth ministries, and we must have another background check and a more thorough class that covers what the Boy Scout safety course does, but in more depth. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terabith Posted November 14, 2012 Share Posted November 14, 2012 I suspect the issue is that they have a blanket "no parents" rule because they want all adults working with the children to be background checked, and if they allow some parents (with background checks) in, it's hard to tell other parents that they can't come in. I would ask why the no parent rule is. I wouldn't necessarily freak out or pull my dd from the troop, but it would irk me no end. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CatMomof3 Posted November 15, 2012 Share Posted November 15, 2012 As a Girl Scout leader, I'm supposed to have anyone who stays in the meetings on a regular basis registered and background checked. I don't necessarily have them go through leader training, but for the safety of all the girls, I need to make sure that any adult in the room with them regularly is checked, and membership is the vehicle to doing that. I certainly welcome any parents who want to stay, but I have to be consistent. :iagree: That being said, if I went to a couple of meetings and paid for everything and THEN told I could not attend, that would raise a red flag. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jpoy85 Posted November 15, 2012 Share Posted November 15, 2012 C is in Girl Scouts and all the parents are at all the meetings. We are encouraged to stay and help. Now when she was a daisy, i found it strange none of the parents stayed, even though we could. :confused: ETA: - these were different groups on opposite sides of the city. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jenn121 Posted December 10, 2012 Share Posted December 10, 2012 I am a Troop Coordinator for and AHG Troop in Northern CA. Our Pathfinder parents are required to stay. We do make exceptions for Parents who are leaders. I myself will have a Pathfinder next year. Common sense would dictate that there are times and places when a parent cannot be at every meeting and we make the decision on a case by case basis for special circumstances. We encourage our parents at all levels, K-12, to be with their girls. We follow AHG guidelines of two-deep leadership and # of girls per registered leader. Parents nor leaders are never aloud to be alone with a girl that is not their own daughter. And by alone I mean without another adult. I would question a troop that did not allow parents. I think that they are taking the AHG guidelines too literally and out of context. Jenn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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