PHOENIX — Facing a flood of lawsuits over alleged child sex abuse, Boy Scouts of America has filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy in an attempt to put itself in a position to settle those lawsuits.
So how does this affect Arizona scouts?
“Scouting programs won't be impacted at all locally,” said Andy Price, CEO of the Grand Canyon Council, which has over 10,000 scouts.
Price said while the national Boy Scouts of America owns and develops the programs and events, the local councils generally operate on their own.
He said most of the accusations nationally came out of the '60s, '70s and early '80s. Since then, the Scouts have been proactive in protecting their members and providing avenues to report wrongdoing of any kind.
“We do criminal records – background checks on every person that works with our scouts. We do reference checks on our leaders. Even our scouts get protection training that's age-appropriate every year at the beginning of the school year, and they review that with their parents or guardians,” said Price.
Price says he still believes the Boy Scouts provides a valuable experience for kids
“Scouting changes lives. It builds leadership. It builds confidence, and there is not a better safer place for you to put your kids into scouting than right here in Arizona,” said Price.
