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[quote=cburkhardt]Parents of Cub Scouts and Scouts BSA girls have a variety of different involvements available to them ranging from minimal to regular time commitments.  Scouting programs linked to the BSA are indeed “family” programs, because parents are involved in occasional transportation of Scouts, attend award ceremonies and closely follow the activities of their girls.  Parents who want no engagement or contact with their girl’s youth service organization should probably look elsewhere.  That said, our group will take any girl without regard to the willingness of parents to directly assist.

Time Commitment

Interested Parents (minimum time commitment).  All of our parents provide transportation to or from campouts on a car-pool basis, attend our semester award ceremonies and participate in occasional 30-minute Zoom calls for parents whereby we review upcoming activity plans and answer questions.  We require our parents to be involved in at least this minimum level so they understand what the girls are doing and thereby participate in program oversight.

Committee Members (4-8 hours per month).  About 1/3 of our parents serve on the adult Troop Committee and help with financial management, membership, program or advancement issues.  These meetings take place exclusively on Zoom.  These parents provide core parent input and oversight to the Scoutmasters, who work directly with the Scouts.  These people register as adult members of the BSA and take the youth protection training.  Because they are trained in anti-abuse methods, they qualify to be chaperones (along with the Scoutmasters) for Troop activities.

Merit Badge Counselors (10-20 hours per year).  These parents teach small groups of Scouts focused subject matter.  They typically present a merit badge course once a year.  For instance, an accountant parent might teach the accounting merit badge once a year to a group of 4 Scouts.

Scoutmasters (15-40 hours per month).  These women and men are highly-trained BSA members who work directly with groups of Scouts in helping them plan and execute their activities.  They provide a bulk of the outdoor instruction, although some focus on non-outdoor leadership instruction.  We have 11 Scoutmasters and 2/3 are parents.  It is a majority-female group, as is the above-mentioned Committee.  To prevent the youth abuse that took place in the past, these individuals are trained in youth abuse recognition and prevention, thoroughly vetted and always work in pairs.

Reading these involvement descriptions gives you a partial idea of how a Scouts BSA Troop for Girls operates.  Cub Scout organization have similar parent involvement structures tailored to that younger-girl program.

Fund Raising

In our Scouts BSA Troop for Girls the young people do not sell products.  No candy bar, popcorn, or anything else.  We structure all-in Troop dues and some event fees to pay essential operating costs.  For Scouts whose families cannot pay the entire dues or activity fees, we have an annual quiet fundraising coffee to raise this.  Every girl can participate in every activity regardless of ability to pay.  Our parents consistently tell us they want their girls’ time focused on Scouting program and not product sales.  There are other valid ways to fund youth service organizations for girls, and I certainly admire them all. 
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