Reply to Are sleepaway camps a good idea?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]The fear about sex abuse is surprising to me. For the people worried about this, do your kids participate in sports, go to school, do scouting, go to church/temple? Those all seem just as high risk as sleepaway camp.[/quote]

Logistically, there is more opportunity at sleep away camp.[/quote]

I would push back on that. There are not really private places at camp - we were always in big groups with multiple campers and counselors.  At churches/temples kids are more likely to be working one on one with an adult. Similarly, at my kids' camps they sleep in big bunks with about 15 people, vs the smaller tents used for a boy scout camping trip. My DH deals with childhood sexual abuse as part of his job and had no problem sending our kids to sleepaway camp but had real concerns with scouting. [/quote]

Interesting that your DH is specifically concerned with scouts. There is no being alone with someone else anymore. Most places of worship have similar policies. You should be more concerned with places that have no protocols in place or where people say “that can’t happen here.” Sex abuse is more likely to eventually be found where there is opportunity. Opportunity happens in places where people have let their guard down.[/quote]

My DH had to talk to a lot of the survivors of scouting sexual abuse. That was enough for him. It sounds like they have changed their rules, which is great. I just don't see sleepaway camp as any riskier than anything else and I am not sure why it would be -- do you think if something happened your kid would immediately tell you when they got home (and the fact they will be away for weeks is what makes sleepaway camp riskier)? that is a myth, [b]kids typically don't tell anyone.[/b] https://nationalcac.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/FINAL-10-Common-Myths-with-References.pdf[/quote]

Abusers use threats that sound credible to naive pre-teens. Like telling the the victim that he/she will get in trouble too if anyone finds out. That's pretty standard for abusers.[/quote]

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