No, because I’m not seeing how the ages work for that to have been an issue! I don’t care about their personal lives so much as I’m confused…
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I’m guessing in order to get her money back.
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It would make a lot of sense if the parents/guardians of minors had to take the SafeSport training and the yearly refresher as well. Plus it works both ways. The prevalence of abuse by a family member and even incest is not insignificant. Trainers can also be looking for signs of a minor being abused in some fashion.
I don’t have time to do a thorough search at the moment, but here are some links if anyone wants to look more closely.
"Here are some statistics that should be familiar to us all, but aren’t, either because they’re too mind-boggling to be absorbed easily, or because they’re not publicized enough. One in three-to-four girls, and one in five-to-seven boys are sexually abused before they turn 18, an overwhelming incidence of which happens within the family. These statistics are well known among industry professionals, who are often quick to add, "and this is a notoriously underreported crime." "
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One point about alone time which I dont think I’ve seen mentioned - alone activities need to be interruptible.
Which I understand to mean if I am teaching a kid and parent chooses to leave before next student arrives, I can keep teaching. They may be running to Starbucks 4 minutes away, or they may be running to Trader Joe’s. So they might be back in 10 minutes, or in an hour. At any moment they, or anyone else, could drive up and see, hear, or interrupt my lesson, quite possibly without my noticing they were back.
As I understand it, this makes abuse more difficult than if I had a no spectators policy in my (hypothetical) indoor arena or were locked in a tack room with a student, it gives parents and me more leeway in scheduling lessons and errands, and it complies with the SafeSport guidance.
It's not perfect protection for students or me, but it seems reasonable, given the importance of helping as many of us as possible recognize and reduce the possibility of abuse.
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While I can understand why someone (who is a tad intellectually lazy and for whom SafeSport issues are but a minor issue in their day-to-day running of their business) would decide to end any Barn Ratting in their place because they were afraid of false accusations, I can’t say they are right. I don’t think it is all that easy to make a false accusation stick in a SafeSport investigation.
And, yeah, the “intellectually lazy” characterization of these anti-SS folks is a fair one: The amount of Constitutional-law-sounding crap that has been flung around by them is embarrassing. And that crap flinging seems to be done again and again by folks new to the discussion because no one feels compelled to learn much about SafeSport’s procedures or history (of even much about what American laws does and doesn’t do) before spouting off.
Look, I’m not an attorney. I have no expertise in that area. But I know that I don’t know. And so I have the humility and work ethic is takes (not much) to learn when people who do know what they are doing offer to educate me. I don’t expect a horse trainer to start out a legal scholar either. But they ought to know and respect the expertise held by those trained in that field. I mean, FF’sS, don’t you think the seriousness of the issue requires that everyone learn a bit before spouting off?
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A little generosity toward a kid with neglectful parents might suit you better. If they have the look-the-other-way parent, don’t you think that is exactly they kid who needs the mentorship and protection of another adult? God knows, the kid with absentee parents is traditionally the mark for a pedophile.
If we cannot insure perfect protection for kids. And we can’t make all parents Adult Up and become better than they are, then why not still do some Damage Control by education all other adults around these kids about how they might help if they see something amiss?
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If this is true, then the editors at COTH failed in their responsibility.
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The irony here is mind boggling. You do realize that by spouting this crap you are throwing under the bus the very children who need protection the most: whose parents have not taken SP, who aren’t paying attention, who leave their children the most vulnerable. Because a parent who should do the training doesn’t, you refuse to participate in something that just may help you protect their kid?
you have proven the point that your indignation at being INCONVENIENCED is more important than a degree of (imperfect) personal involvement in the protection of children. Gross.
taking the SP training doesn’t accuse anyone of being an abuser, or “dump” responsibility on anyone… it SHOULD be an adult’s shared societal responsibility to watch out for kids around them.
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That is exactly the parent who could also benefit from the training. So they know what to look for. Not only with their kid(s), but others in their social circle.
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Yes it is true. It was a long time ago, and may not be relevant, but it does cast a different flavor over his comments re Steffen. Apologies to the poster who corrected my “voice text” misspelling of his name earlier.
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:love-struck::love-struck::love-struck::encouragement::encouragement::encouragement:
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Some readers will read his column that way. For others, they’ll be able to read JS’s opinions without prejudice.
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I was a little disappointed. SafeSport ain’t perfect - nothing is - but I’m glad it’s there to provide protection to kids that wasn’t there before. IMHO, there is no defense for what GM was found guilty of and others knew about.
I think the phrase about people riding horses that others had trained was alluding a bit to S. Peters. That being said, I think the best horse/rider partnerships are those where they have come up through the levels together. By the time you are an Olympian, you should be “making” your own GP horses just as Reiner Klimke did and his daughter, Ingrid, still does.
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Yes, but the power of SafeSport via the USEF reaches only so far: The penalty for not completing SafeSport training is not being able to enter a horse show. If you are a parent who never needs to be a member of the USEF, how would you hope to compel their participation in SafeSport training?
Not for nuthin’ and my just my own opinion (based on some personal experience and being truly shocked at the way Nassar could fondle girls with a Parent In The Room), I think that there is some parental investment in the denial. Sorry to sound accusatory, but I feel a certain WTF about that.
To me, the difficulty of correcting that kind of parenting is the reason that I’m happy to have every nearby adult take up a some responsibility. It might be the best that kid can get.
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Regarding the phrase I bolded: My thought was that someone has to pay the bill for a minor to become a member. That party must be a parent/guardian (right? Who else can give permission?) so that may be a way to get the responsible adult to take the training too. If you want your kid to participate, then you have a responsibility to take the SafeSport training. Plus aren’t there a fair number of parents who volunteer at shows anyway? In that case, don’t they have to take the training? That was always the case for parents who volunteered at schools. I sat through the annual presentation so I could be yet another parent roped into fundraising programs that always needed more parents to participate (and donate). No adult could volunteer to do ANYTHING around any of the events unless they had taken the training. Not even sit at the auditorium and collect money for the annual musical.
Thoughts off the top of my head.
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Popping back in to say I totally understand being frustrated about not being able to do the training because of crappy internet access. That is something that they really should work on.
Talking about doing training while at work wasn’t me saying you should do it at work, it was me saying that claiming it takes up so much time you could otherwise be doing other things isn’t totally right, in that I had it running while i was working and just checked in on it to read the transcript and go to the next section every few minutes. Which you could totally do at home as well. Unless your internet sucks.
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I was one of those who didn’t know anything about Steinberg’s personal life. (And I don’t care, and that’s none of my business.) But I don’t think his broad criticism of dressage as becoming a sport where one’s ability to pay matters most is way off the mark, nor idiosyncratic. So I think it’s unfair to reduce his point of view to a case of sour grapes.
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Example of what parent/adult volunteers have to do at local school district (is this something that is required of volunteers at horse shows where children will compete too? If not - shouldn’t it be?):
Step 1: Complete the Application for Volunteer Services
Step 2: Attend a scheduled volunteer training at any school or complete the online volunteer orientation.
New Users
Returning Users with an existing Safe Schools Login
You will be provided with a certificate once you successfully complete the training.
Step 3: Submit the application and the valid training certificate to the school in which you intend to volunteer. Volunteers may provide hard copies or the documents may be emailed to the school volunteer coordinator. Both documents must be submitted at the same time to be accepted and reviewed by the school staff.
Once the application is reviewed and approved and training has been verified, volunteers may be placed by schools and offices according to identified needs to perform tasks that support our established goals.
Goals of the Volunteer Program
- Expand parental involvement and engagement strategies to meet the unique needs of all families in the school communities.
- Acknowledge parents and community members as important partners in the education of all students.
- Strengthen the relationship between schools and parents, guardians and community stakeholders through meaningful service opportunities.
- Support teachers and staff with the implementation of curriculum and school programs.
- Utilize the knowledge and skills of volunteers to promote student achievement.
- Offer direct support to students needing additional assistance with assigned tasks.
- Assist school staff and students with extra-curricular activities, afterschool programs and fundraising opportunities.
- Provide supervision and direction for students while participating in off-campus learning experiences (field trips).
- Classroom Assistant - assisting teachers and students with classroom[s] activities
- Academic Tutoring
- School PTA Councils
- Area Education Advisory Councils
- Music and Sports Booster Programs
- Field-trip Chaperones
- After School Activities
- Student Mentoring
- Career Awareness - speaking to students about career pathways and opportunities
- Clerical/Office/Library support
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And Laura Graves with Verdades.
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Going back to one of the assertions made upthread, is anyone aware of any person, aside from Tommy Serio, who was suspended/banned and then reinstated? The only other one I can come up with off memory is John Manning, who is still listed on the SafeSport site as having loss of privilege, but is not listed on the USEF site, apparently because they don’t have a place to put someone with partial loss of privilege on the USEF site.
