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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A new study shines a spotlight on something we might not always think about: how unpredictable environments in childhood can have lasting effects on mental health, behavior, and even physical health by the time kids hit adolescence. There are some good pointers in the results for those of us who work with kids in chaotic…
One of the most common mistakes I see my youth-serving clients make is having written child protection policies that they don’t adequately explain to on-the-ground staff. The case I highlighted last week may be an example of that problem. Having written policies that your staff members either don’t know about or don’t follow can set…
The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals has reaffirmed the ministerial exception to employment laws as applied to religious schools. A private Christian elementary school fired an assistant principal, who sued, claiming that his termination was retaliation for complaining about race and sex discrimination and for raising concerns that the school’s main funder might be a…
The Arizona Court of Appeals recently issued an opinion analyzing the intersection of Arizona’s clergy privilege with its mandated reporting law. Three minors brought suit against the Church of Latter-Day Saints and two church bishops, alleging that their father had confessed to the bishops that he had been sexually abusing his children and that, because…
A magistrate judge found a former director of a childcare center in Lynchburg, Virginia guilty of failing to report a staff member’s abuse of children at the center. What makes this an unusual story is that the police also charged three Board members with the same crime. The judge found those members innocent, but once…
A recent article highlights the unintended consequences of extending the statute of limitations for abuse claims. In 2020, California made important changes to its statute of limitations, with the noble goal of allowing survivors to hold institutions accountable. The unintended effect, however, has been to harm current students and institutions. AB 218, which took effect…
North Dakota has changed its requirements for mandated reporting for teachers. As of last Friday, teachers now must have training only before initial licensing rather than every year. The standard training in that state appears to be relatively short and not particularly onerous. But short trainings, while better than nothing, rarely can do more than…
Today is Wrong Way Corrigan Day, and it has a lot of great lessons for those of us who work in youth-serving organizations. Douglas Corrigan, a 1930s pilot, became famous for flying from New York to Ireland instead of California, claiming it was a navigational error. The tale offers an interesting case study in dealing…
The Minnesota Supreme Court has held recently that Minnesota’s mandated reporting laws apply to disclosures about minors who are now adults. The particular facts involved a disclosure from a client to a therapist during an intake session. The client revealed that he had engaged in sexual contact with his children’s babysitter when she was 17…
The reports about a district attorney’s recent press conference in Massachusetts contain some important lessons for youth-serving organizations. The DA in Pittsfield, MA has charged two middle school educators with involuntary manslaughter and related crimes after the 2024 drowning death of a young teen during a school field trip. We are seeing more frequent criminal…