Publication Date: Wednesday, August 31, 2005
Editorial: Youth programs need anti-abuse safeguards
Editorial: Youth programs need anti-abuse safeguards
(August 31, 2005) Recent alleged violations of trust by coaches and scout leaders indicate need for stronger methods of detecting early signs of inappropriate behavior
The haunting question about three of the four recent high-profile sex-related cases involving coaches and scout leaders in Palo Alto and Los Altos is how the situations could have gotten so far out of hand and, in some cases, gone unreported for so long.
Each case differs markedly:
* Longtime Palo Alto High School soccer coach Jeff van Gastel, 34, faces misdemeanor charges of providing alcohol to persons under 21 at an end-of-season party for his private club team, De Anza Force, leading to his having sex with three of the 18-year-old women on the team.
* Jordan Middle School coach Bill Giordano, 59, is accused of having a 28-month sexual relationship with a girl that began when she was 14 starting in the early 1990s, a felony.
* Explorer Scout leader Tony Graham, 28, who founded and ran an emergency-medical response training program in conjunction with the Boy Scouts and Palo Alto Fire Department, is facing three felony charges of having sex with girls under 18, including one who was 14.
* Assistant Scoutmaster Gregory Wagner, 42, of Los Altos has been arrested on suspicion of molesting young boys in his scout troop between 1987 and 1992, also felonies.
Individual guilt or innocence will be sorted out in court. But a common denominator of the four situations -- and of many others over the years -- is that circumstances allowed adult authority figures access to impressionable young persons without built-in safeguards. In one case, a 14-year-old girl was hired as a babysitter by her school team's coach.
In van Gastel's case, his attorney emphasizes that no felonies are involved because the young women were all over 18. But John Murphy, chairman of the California Youth Soccer Association (CYSA), said the case "leaves all of us with a real deep feeling of basic betrayal."
In Graham's case, a group of parents of young persons in the program reportedly formed an advisory board to attempt to provide more oversight after some became concerned about "inappropriate" behavior or comments.
The damage caused to the young victims cannot be fully assessed -- much depends on how individuals respond, if they get counseling and how well they and their parents communicate.
Regardless of the outcomes of these individual cases, creating a stronger mechanism to deter, detect and intervene is such situations is an urgent necessity -- with a strong emphasis on deterrence. In a society where one in four girls and one in six boys are sexually molested by an adult during childhood, it is imperative that the institutions we set up to guide young persons -- the schools, scouting and club sports programs -- be safe and secure.
Many programs have written guidelines that address potential abuse. Some do background checks.
These clearly are not enough. The CYSA, for instance, has specific guidelines for volunteers. Physical contact is limited to "necessary and appropriate to teach a skill, treat an injury, console or congratulate a player." There should be no touching -- even a pat on the back -- in a one-on-one situation, the guidelines state.
"Even the hint of inappropriate contact with a player may be enough to create the impression of inappropriate contact with children. Volunteers should act in a defensive mode so that there is no air of impropriety," they state. Suspicious behavior by an adult or a complaint should be reported to a CYSA "risk manager."
The guidelines are strong and explicit, as are scout-leader and other guidelines, on paper. But what seems to be missing is a clear definition of "inappropriate behavior" to help participants and parents act upon incidents or suspicions rather than just whisper to each other about them.
Schools and organizations must develop clear rules and procedures for any program that puts young persons together with adults in coaching, training and teaching situations. Adult leaders should never be permitted to engage in a personal or business (as in babysitting) relationship with a young person in their program.
Most importantly, schools and organizations need clearly articulated systems for inviting and insisting on parent involvement and feedback regarding coaches and other adult leaders.
If parents and young persons clearly understand what is inappropriate and whom to call with even a suspicion, future abusive relationships can be reduced. That would be a beginning.
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