How Scouting America keeps kids safe

No adult works with Pack 170's Cub Scouts by simply showing up. Every adult who wants a registered role submits an application, provides personal references, and undergoes a criminal background check run by a nationally recognized third party. The background check has to come back clear before the adult can serve, and it is not a one-time formality: Scouting America runs periodic rechecks of registered adults' criminal backgrounds to support ongoing safety, not just a check at sign-up.

An adult application also has to be approved by people outside that adult's own say-so. The chartered organization (for Pack 170, that is Highland Hills Baptist Church) has to accept the application, and Central Georgia Council processes the registration. An adult who hasn't cleared that screening, or whose background check and Safeguarding Youth Training aren't current, is not registered. Registration is the whole test. It's what Scouting America and the chartered organization use to decide who may serve with youth.

Every registered adult must complete youth protection training before serving with youth. Role doesn't change that. Den leader, committee member, the parent who drives once a year: same requirement. As of 2025, Scouting America replaced the older Youth Protection Training (YPT) with an updated course called Safeguarding Youth Training. Adults who had already completed YPT kept their certification, but the training now has to be renewed every year, not every two years as it once was.

The renewal requirement has teeth. If a registered adult's Safeguarding Youth Training isn't current when their annual registration comes up, they are not re-registered. Lapsed training isn't a paperwork gap the pack can quietly work around. It ends that adult's registered role until the training is retaken.

The training isn't locked behind registration. A parent who holds no registered role can take it too, through my.scouting.org. Scouting America's own guidance is direct about this: understanding the youth protection rules is described as every parent's responsibility, whether or not they hold a registered role.

Scouting America calls its structural safety rules "barriers to abuse." They are specific, not aspirational, and they apply at every Pack 170 activity:

• Two-deep leadership. At least two registered adult leaders, both 21 or older, are required at every Scouting activity, including meetings, not just campouts or trips.
• No one-on-one contact. An adult may not be alone with a youth who is not their own child, in any form: in person, online, on a video call, by phone, or by text.
• Separate accommodations. No youth is permitted to sleep in the tent or quarters of an adult other than their own parent or guardian.
• Appropriate attire and respected privacy. Appropriate attire is required at all activities, and adults and youth must respect each other's privacy, particularly when changing clothes or showering.
• Buddy system. Youth use the buddy system so no one is isolated during an activity.
• No secrets. All aspects of the Scouting program are open to observation by parents and leaders. Scouting America does not recognize secret organizations as part of its program.

These same rules extend online. Two-deep leadership applies to virtual meetings, not just in-person ones. The no-one-on-one-contact rule is explicit that it covers every form of digital contact: no private messages, no one-on-one texts, no one-on-one video calls between an adult and a youth. Any adult–youth communication has to include another authorized adult, and inappropriate use of smartphones, cameras, or other devices in situations where privacy is expected is prohibited.

Every part of the program is open to a parent's observation, at any time, for any activity. You don't need permission or advance notice to ask what's happening at a meeting or event. You don't need a reason beyond wanting to know.

Everyone involved in Scouting is required to report any good-faith suspicion of abuse to local law enforcement first. Not to pack leadership. Not to the council. Not internally instead of the authorities. Reporting to Scouting America is required in addition to, not instead of, contacting the authorities.

Scouting America runs a 24-hour reporting line, the Scouts First Helpline, at 1-844-SCOUTS1 (1-844-726-8871), for known or suspected abuse or behavior that puts a youth at risk. There is no version of this policy that allows a leader discretion to stay quiet or handle a suspicion informally.

Pack 170 has no members-only area. This website, like every part of the program, is fully public. Every contact channel on this site reaches multiple registered adults; the pack does not publish individual adult email addresses, so no channel here creates a private adult-to-youth or adult-to-family back door. Youth are identified on this site by first name and last initial only, and no photograph of a youth is published without a parent's consent.

Pack 170 meets in space provided by its chartered organization, Highland Hills Baptist Church, in a building shared with other groups, not a private setting the pack controls.

Don't take this page's word for it. The source material is public:

• Scouting America: Safeguarding Youth Training
• Scouting America: Scouting's Barriers to Abuse
• Guide to Safe Scouting: Youth Protection and Adult Leadership
• Scouting America: Scouts First Helpline

If anything on this page is unclear, or you want to talk through what youth protection looks like before your family gets involved, use the contact form. It reaches multiple authorized adult volunteers, not one person.