Youth-serving organizations take on a serious responsibility when they open their doors to children and other vulnerable people. Fulfilling that responsibility well requires two things working together: a safety culture strong enough to prevent harm, and independent investigations credible enough to find the truth when someone alleges mistreatment.
Youth Services Law covers both. Posts examine the legal landscape, practical decisions, and organizational choices that shape how schools, camps, churches, colleges, faith-based groups, and community organizations protect the people in their care and respond when something goes wrong. The goal is the same in every post: precise, useful guidance for child protection and investigations.
On Veterans Day, we pause to honor those who have served our nation in uniform. We recognize their courage, their sacrifice, and their commitment to protecting our freedoms. But behind every service member stands a family that also serves—spouses who manage households through deployments, children who change schools mid-year, and extended families who provide support…
When thieves pulled off a brazen daylight robbery at the Louvre this October, this article says security experts weren’t particularly surprised. The investigation revealed what security professionals already knew: even the most prestigious institutions struggle with fundamental questions about where to place cameras, how to allocate limited budgets, and whether surveillance actually prevents incidents or…
Tom Rawlings and I will be leading a workshop on Thursday afternoon, October 2, about “Creating a Culture of Trust, Safety, and Accountability in Christian Youth Organizations.” We also will be at the YSO Academy booth in the main exhibition hall. Register here, and join us in the workshop or look for us at Booth…
A federal appellate court opinion held that a state association violated the constitutional rights of a religious school by expelling it from all intramural activities after the school forfeited a basketball game against a team with a transgender athlete. The district court had ruled against the school, finding that the association’s enforcement of its rules…
My law partner, Tom Rawlings, is speaking at the ISPCAN Congress in Vilnius, Lithuania in two weeks. His topic is “Implementing the Child’s Access to Justice: Critical Review of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, General Comment 27.” The conference is a gathering of “the brightest minds in child protection” from around…
Yesterday was Hobbit Day, a wonderful day to remember that even ordinary people can help push back against great darkness. I have been a fan of J.R.R. Tolkien’s work since I discovered it in college. I started The Lord of the Rings, like many projects, because the guy I was infatuated with at the time…
This past month has given us all a lot of gut-punches, from the shooting in Minneapolis to the murders in Charlotte and Utah to the anniversary of 9/11. I won’t repeat the many eloquent essays on how to view these events, but all of them contain one profound truth — we must teach our young…
Colorado’s new mandated reporting law highlights a critical question for youth-serving organizations: Do we require staff members to report their concerns internally or require them to go directly to child protection authorities? Until this year, Colorado allowed staff to take concerns to supervisors who in their turn were supposed to contact authorities. Because of concerns…
Today, September 10, is World Suicide Prevention Day. It’s a good time to reflect on the role that mentoring can play in addressing the problem. According to the CDC, young people under the age of 25 have the lowest rates of suicide, but suicide is the second leading cause of death for young teens. Even…
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act require youth-serving organizations to provide reasonable accommodations for disabilities, including developmental delays, behavioral disorders, and mental health problems. Putting that principle into practice can be very difficult, particularly when many mental health and behavioral disorder diagnoses depend entirely on subjective criteria. It…