The Boy Scouts of America (BSA) Announces Appointment of New Youth Protection Executive

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Apr 19, 2023, 09:15 ET

Glen Pounder will oversee all youth protection activities and report directly to CEO Roger Mosby

IRVING, Texas, April 19, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) announced that Glen Pounder has been appointed the organization's Youth Protection Executive. Mr. Pounder is an international expert in law enforcement and brings more than 25 years of experience in child protection and law enforcement to the BSA.

Mr. Pounder previously held roles with the Child Rescue Coalition (CRC) and National Crime Agency (NCA), in addition to serving as a founding board member of Raven, a nonprofit organization dedicated to combatting the exploitation of children around the world. His responsibilities will include assessing and overseeing all activities related to youth protection nationwide, including policy, training, external partnerships, and engagement with the survivor community.

"Youth protection is at the heart of everything we do, and we are thrilled to welcome Glen Pounder as a leader and dedicated expert in this area," said Roger Mosby, President and Chief Executive Officer. "We executed a lengthy, thoughtful search process to fill this new role, and Mr. Pounder is the ideal fit—due in large part to his empathy, leadership abilities, and dedication to law enforcement, child safety, and Scouting."

"I am humbled and honored to join the BSA in this significant new role," said Mr. Pounder. "There can be no higher priority than the safety and protection of young people, and the work that we are doing is not only critical to the future of Scouting, but to youth everywhere."

The BSA's Commitment to Youth Safety

Today, Scouting is safer than ever before. Importantly, the BSA is aware safety is not a static issue and is always looking for ways to improve its youth protection program to ensure it is utilizing the most up to date policies and procedures to protect children. Currently, the BSA's multi-layered safeguards include the following measures, all of which act as barriers to abuse:

Extensive, mandatory youth protection training for all volunteers and employees;
Partnership with the Barbara Sinatra Children's Center Foundation to educate and empower youth through the new "Protect Yourself Rules" videos to educate children to understand and recognize abuse while empowering them to get help any time they are made to feel uncomfortable;
A leadership policy that requires at least two youth-protection trained adults be present with youth at all times during Scouting activities and bans one-on-one situations where adults would have any interaction alone with children – either in person, online, or via phone or text;
A BSA team dedicated to addressing concerns raised about any individual in Scouting;
A thorough screening process for new adult leaders and staff including criminal background checks; and
The prompt mandatory reporting of any allegation or suspicion of abuse to law enforcement.

The BSA supports universal measures to keep kids safe and continue to advocate for the creation of a national database to which all youth-serving organizations could contribute and use to screen volunteers.

The BSA also offers a 24/7 Scouts First Helpline (1-844-SCOUTS1) and email contact address ([email protected]) for help reporting suspected abuse or inappropriate behavior. For more information about the BSA's youth protection policies, please visit Scouting.org/YouthSafety.

About the Boy Scouts of America

The Boy Scouts of America provides the nation's foremost youth program of character development and values-based leadership training, which helps young people be "Prepared. For Life.®" The Scouting organization is composed of more than 1 million youth members between the ages of 5 and 21 and approximately 650,000 volunteers in local councils throughout the United States and its territories. For more information on the Boy Scouts of America, please visit www.Scouting.org.

Learn about the BSA's youth protection policies in place today at www.scouting.org/youth-safety.

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SOURCE Boy Scouts of America