USASF Professional Responsibility Code 2019-2020 9.0 | Page 31

The safety and welfare of the All Star athlete must be at the forefront
of all programming considerations. All Star programs must have
clear, written guidelines that prohibit adults who have contact with
minors from engaging in conduct that is either inappropriate and/or
illegal.
The default USASF Sexual Abuse Prevention Policy includes:
A.) The placement by all Member Programs the measures
to comply with the federal requirements for Sports
Organizations in order to take measures to prevent child
abuse.
The “Protecting Young Victims from Sexual Abuse and Safe Sport
Authorization Act” was signed into law February 12, 2018 by
President Trump. Additional details on this Act can be found by
following either link:
Rueters Article: https://www.reuters.com/article/usa-congress-
harassment/u-s-house-passes-bill-to-protect-young-athletes-from-
abuse-idUSKBN1FJ032
Legislation Text:
https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/senate-bill/534/
text?format=txt
The Act makes it a criminal offense NOT to take the following
measures – there is NO grace period, it is effective immediately:
1. Mandatory Incident Reporting
The Act requires Organizations to provide a tool for
“Mandatory Reporters” to immediately report suspicions of
abuse. The list of “Mandatory Reporters” now includes any
adult authorized to interact with a minor athlete at a sports
organization, facility, event, or treatment.
2. Consistent Abuse Prevention Training
The Act requires Youth Sports Organizations to provide
consistent training on prevention and reporting of child abuse
to all adult members who are in regular contact with minors/
amateur athletes. Effective prevention training allows adults
to see and recognize problematic behaviors before a minor is
abused.
3. Confidential Notifications
The Act requires Organizations to provide a “mechanism for
communication” for all participants and volunteers where they
can confidentially report incidents of abuse, or suspicion of
abuse.
4. Audit Trail & Reporting
The Act requires Organizations to establish “oversight
procedures” to create records for each incident, including the
responses taken to follow acceptable procedures, and can be
proven during “random audits” of the Organization.
B.) The provision of education and resources for parents.
Programs will share and make available resources for parents to
educate themselves. At minimum, programs will educate parents on
the availability of:
1. Safesport Tool Kit for parents:
https://resources.safesport.org/toolkits/Parent-Toolkit-
Complete/index.html,
2. FREE online parent training is available at athletesafey.org,
3. Darkness to Light Website: https://www.d2l.org/,
4. Stewards of Children Prevention Toolkit App available on mobile
devices, and
5. USASF SafeSport code & the USCSS Policies document that is
available to all USASF members.
APPENDIX B - SEXUAL ABUSE & PREVENTION POLICY
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