About This Blog
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.
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Featured Post
September 8, 2026
Every plaintiff's attorney in a youth sexual abuse case asks the same question: did the organization follow accepted safety practices? Many organizations assume the answer required two adults present at every activity. That assumption does not hold up under scrutiny. No universal legal standard...
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The call comes during afternoon carpool pickup. A parent mentions—almost casually at first—that their daughter said something concerning about a counselor. Or you’re reviewing incident reports and notice a pattern you can’t ignore. Or an email lands in your inbox with “Urgent: Formal Complaint” in the subject line. Your stomach drops. Your mind races. And…
Creating a child protection policy is a significant milestone for any youth-serving organization. But writing the policy is just the beginning. The real challenge—and the real opportunity—lies in ensuring your policy remains a living, breathing part of your organizational culture rather than a document that gathers dust on a shelf. Yearly audits aren’t about catching…
When the Investigation Ends: How to Use the Results to Protect, Heal, and Strengthen Your Organization A practical guide for administrators of youth-serving organizations navigating the critical steps after an independent investigation concludes. Commissioning an independent investigation is one of the most difficult decisions a leader of a youth-serving organization will ever make. It requires…
The winter holidays are a good time to think about how we can help individual foster families. This time of year, there is an even greater need for community support. Foster parents have the same holiday to-do lists as every other family. In addition, they have to find time to help their foster kids connect…
A story from Southaven, Mississippi illustrates the importance of good training and policies in how to deal with a dilemma that youth organizations often face — when sexual activity between minors becomes a reportable event. The district attorney has charged a youth minister for failing to make a mandated report. According to the news story,…
A few weeks ago, a judge in Braxton, WV, sentenced Robin James for failing to act on a child’s disclosure. James received the maximum sentence of 4 to 40 years in prison for child neglect after admitting she made “no moves to protect” a minor in her care because she didn’t believe the child’s repeated…
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…