Blake Davidson, Executive Vice President, RealResponse
The first step toward tackling a problem is usually to define it. When it comes to the issue of child abuse and exploitation, the same logic does not apply.
There are many publicly available statistics that aim to illustrate the scope of the crisis: One in five women and 1 in 13 men report having been sexually abused as a child, according to the World Health Organization. More than 550,000 children are known to authorities to have been abused in the US in 2022, per the National Children’s Alliance. But this data only tells a partial story.
“The scale and scope of the problem isn’t known,” says Glen Pounder, SVP & Chief Safeguarding Officer at Scouting America. “[These] might seem like scary numbers—and they are—but these reports are the minimum scale of the problem.” Youth-serving organizations like Scouting America bear a critical responsibility to help shrink these numbers. When you support more than 1 million members nationwide, the ultimate goal is preventing abuse before it happens.
A multifaceted approach to protection
There is no silver bullet when it comes to safeguarding children. One institution or organization’s approach may look drastically different from another’s. At Scouting America, abuse prevention centers around giving everyone—youth and the adults around them—the resources they need to protect each other and focus on the larger mission: becoming the best versions of themselves.
“Our aim is to empower people with information to keep themselves safe, to keep their own kids safe,” says Pounder. “[In turn] those kids can be like a pebble in the water to keep their peers safe, their siblings safe and their schoolmates safe.”
Our aim is to empower people with information to keep themselves safe, to keep their own kids safe. In turn, those kids can be like a pebble in the water to keep their peers safe, their siblings safe and their schoolmates safe.”
Glen Pounder, SVP & Chief Safeguarding Officer at Scouting America
Achieving this goal hinges on multiple elements, including:
- Transparent goals: Safeguarding youth is a journey. Forward progress starts with being upfront about where you’re headed. For example, Scouting America has a robust governance board with more than 40 volunteers who have a complete view of the organization’s security approach and goals.
- Strategic partnerships: Youth-serving organizations first and foremost have a responsibility to protect their current and future members. But collaborating with external partners can have a force multiplier effect. Scouting America’s team has worked with academic institutions on research to refine its approach to safeguarding. One such project explored the barriers to disclosure of abuse, and uncovered some of the unintentional things adults say or do that may impede victims (or potential victims) from speaking up to begin with.
- The right infrastructure: The importance of people and process cannot be undervalued when it comes to security. On the people front, this means having safety experts as well as abuse survivors who can help guide your organization’s efforts. For Scouting America, which relies on more than 600,000 volunteers across its local councils, it’s critical that all safeguarding policies and prevention tactics are instilled in the unit-level people who interact directly with youth members.
Balancing technology’s pitfalls and potential
Technology plays a massive role in the modern fight against child abuse. Just consider how innovations in artificial intelligence can help analyze historical data sets and identify patterns at scale to inform stronger child security strategies.
But you can’t ignore the fact that technology has also made this crisis more complicated–-and harder to measure.
“Technology can be fantastic, but it also creates avenues that didn’t exist previously,” says Pounder. “Now that ‘scary man in the van’ can actually access kids in their own bedrooms via their devices, if we’re not careful. ”
Almost all U.S. teenagers have access to a smartphone, and 80% of households with children have tablets. As we’ve seen with social media alone, regulating minors’ technology usage is a constantly moving target. But access to countless apps creates countless opportunities for youth to share information or communicate with a potential threat. “It’s even more critical that we empower our adults and our kids with the knowledge they need to put a hand up. It might not be a red flag, but it could be a yellow flag even—so that they have the knowledge to report and get help where they need to.”
This is where training comes into play. Youth-serving organizations like Scouting America are revisiting their training efforts to ensure employees and parents alike understand the latest digital safety concerns, and what to watch out for when it comes to their childrens’ online habits.
“As a parent, I don’t need to know the names of every app. But I do need to know if an app allows strangers to connect with my kid, or support sharing pictures, voice notes or video,” says Pounder.
Creating a positive ripple effect with the right tools
The unfortunate reality is this: Across any industry, organization or institution, there could always be someone who poses a threat to children. The most forward-thinking teams are embracing tools that make it easier to report wrongdoing, and help neutralize those threats altogether.
This mentality is what led Pounder and his team at Scouting America to implement Real Response. The platform allows for anonymous, two-way communication between any member or employee and the organization’s national team.
“That extra avenue to disclosure is another tool in our prevention box. If I’m an adult considering grooming or—even worse—abusing a child, I’m going to see a poster now with a QR code on it, which says, ‘Feeling threatened? Anonymously report here.’”
RealResponse offers an intuitive interface, making it easy for digital native children to quickly escalate serious issues as needed.
But above all else, the platform is a critical step toward increasing awareness and vigilance across the entire Scouting America community.
“What excites me most is the potential to create a huge ripple effect by empowering our adults and our scouts with the tools they need to protect each other and themselves.”
Learn more about how RealResponse can amplify the voices and insights you need to protect the most vulnerable within your organization.
