Despite an earlier denial to Congress, the Boy Scouts of America have now admitted that sexual predators were allowed to return to scouting “decades ago” even after “credible accusations of sexual abuse.”
In a new letter to Congress, Michael B. Surbaugh, chief Scout executive, said he was “incorrect” in an earlier letter denying that leaders suspected of abuse were allowed to return to scouting.
“When I sent my response to your November 20, 2018 letter, I believed in good faith, and with deeply felt conviction, that BSA would never have knowingly allowed a sexual predator to work with youth,” he wrote in a May 28 letter to California Democratic Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Calif., who is leading a probe into Boy Scout abuse claims.
Since then, however, Boy Scouts records dating back 100 years were released and showed that 12,254 children were allegedly abused by 7,819 Scout leaders.
In his new letter, Surbaugh acknowledged that report.
“Since then, I have learned that my response was incorrect,” he wrote in the letter provided to Secrets and confirmed by the Boy Scouts of America. It is shown below.
“I have reviewed information that now makes clear to me that decades ago BSA did, in at least some instances, allow individuals to return to Scouting even after credible accusations of sexual abuse. I am devastated that this ever occurred. On behalf of BSA, I sincerely apologize to the individuals affected by this practice,” added Surbaugh.
He also said that the Scouts are taking the issue seriously and has hired a law firm to help sort through the charges.
“Nothing is more important than our obligation to Scouts and their parents to provide a safe environment for Scouting. I personally take this matter extremely seriously, and I speak for BSA in assuring you that we fully appreciate the gravity of the issues you have raised,” he wrote to Speier.
In a separate statement to Secrets, the Scouts said, “First and foremost, we care deeply about all victims of abuse and sincerely apologize to anyone who was harmed during their time in Scouting. We are outraged that there have been times when individuals took advantage of our programs to abuse innocent children. We believe victims, we support them, we pay for counseling by a provider of their choice, and we encourage them to come forward. It is BSA policy that all incidents of suspected abuse are reported to law enforcement.”
It added, “We remove individuals from Scouting based on any allegation of abuse. We steadfastly believe that one incident of abuse is one too many, and we are continually striving to improve all of our policies to prevent abuse. This is precisely why we fully support and advocate for the creation of a national registry overseen by a governmental entity, similar to the national sex offender registry, of those who are suspected of abuse or inappropriate behavior with a child, thereby allowing all youth-serving organizations to share and access such information. We call upon Congress and other youth-serving organizations to support this initiative.”
Critics of the Scouts, and victims of alleged sex abuse, are comparing the crisis to the Catholic Church’s abuse scandal.
The organization is also following the church’s campaign to lobby against efforts in states to make suing the Boy Scouts of America easier, according to reports.
Speier and other lawmakers have accused the Boy Scouts of America of not being transparent about the abuse cases or its effort to protect children and Surbaugh made sure to address that in his letter.
“We believe that today we have a robust set of policies and practices to help ensure a safe environment for Scouts, ranging from mandatory training programs to incident reporting systems. But we understand that we must provide transparency regarding BSA’s past practices, including those instances in which we did not immediately and permanently remove individuals who had engaged in sexual abuse from access to youth,” he wrote.
