Reply to Warning: Anthony Bowen YMCA Camp

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[quote=Anonymous]This is an email that I just sent to the YMCA, but I'm also cutting and pasting it here in case it is useful to other YMCA camp parents.

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My daughter joined the YMCA camp on Monday.  This was her first week at the camp.  She attended on Monday and Tuesday.  I am writing to let you know that I will be withdrawing her from camp and she will not attend the rest of the week.

We have serious concerns about her health, safety and well-being at the YMCA Camp and as a result, she will no longer be attending.  I am also concerned about the health, safety and well-being of the other camp attendees and want to inform you in writing of my concerns.

I am unclear who is supervising the children at camp.  When I picked up my daughter, I had difficulty locating an adult in the room.  It appeared that most of the counselors were high school students.  We have attended other summer camps with high school student counselors, but it is always clear that there is an adult supervisor observing the care of the counselors.  In the case, of the YMCA camp, I am unclear who is supervising the high school students.  More importantly, as I will explain here, I believe this lack of supervision is leading to abusive and dangerous situations for children. When I picked up my daughter today, she was distraught and she explained that she had been holding in her tears all day.  When I picked her up, she finally burst into tears and she spent the afternoon telling me what was bothering her.

My daughter reported being repeatedly yelled at by the camp counselors.  She said that the counselors often yelled at her and other camp attendees.  I asked her to explain and she said that the counselors did not talk to the kids in an appropriate tone, but rather just yelled as a form of communication.  Yelling is not appropriate child discipline, nor is it an appropriate tone for camp.  If high school counselors are yelling at children, they should be reprimanded or at least reminded that the tone is not appropriate for children.

Today at camp my daughter said that she was bullied by many of the kids in her Lego Robotics camp.  Many of the kids said that her lunch looked like vomit and she said she felt like crying.  She said that a counselor  was in the room while this was happening, heard what the kids were doing but they did not intervene to stop the behavior or tell the kids it was inappropriate.   It is absolutely unacceptable that counselors would observe  bullying and do nothing about it.  My child is 6 years old and she should be protected by adults who are charged with her care.

Lastly and most egregiously, my daughter reported being inappropriately touched by another student.  She explained that one of the games that the kids play in the playground was to "sit on the hole."   Apparently kids sit on a turtle hole and then another student will touch the child's buttocks.  My daughter observed this game but didn't want to play even though the other kids wanted her to.  She said that once she thought the kids had left, she sat on the turtle and another camper (a boy child) poked his finger in between her buttcheeks.  She told me that she did not like that.  My daughter said that the counselors observed the kids playing this "sit on the hole" game and were aware of it happening.  She does not know whether a counselor observed what happened to her.   It is absolutely unacceptable that any child is allowed to touch another child in a sensitive area.  It is abuse, negligence and neglect for a counselor to observe this behavior and fail to intervene to stop it.

My family will not be returning to camp this year or in the future, but I feel that it is important to inform you of what happened to my daughter so you can take steps to rectify and remedy.   I will be researching the appropriate agency to file an official complaint with DC.

This is serious and it is unacceptable.  You simply cannot condone (or turn a blind eye to) abuse of children in your care.  I am concerned for the safety of children in your care. [/quote]

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