Nonprofit Fails To Adequately Screen Youth Mentor Who Sexually Assaulted Minor

Case Overview

This child welfare case takes place in Kansas and involves a minor who became a member of a mentoring program due to an unstable family home life – including a single mother and an absent father. The mentor that the child was paired with routinely took the child on private outings, separate from other group members. During the course of their relationship, which spanned nearly a decade, the mentor repeatedly sexually assaulted and molested the child. The child feared for his safety, and as a result never reported the man to authorities. Sadly, no measures of protocol or screening were ever taken by the mentoring program to ensure that this man had no history of sexual assault or misconduct. Nor did any representatives from the organization initiate additional screening of the child to ensure his safety in creating an ongoing relationship with a mentor. It was later discovered that numerous other young men were sexually abused by this same mentor. It is also alleged that had the organization had taken more adequate safety and screening measures, the mentor in question would have been discovered as a potential threat far sooner.

Questions to the Law expert and their responses

Have you ever created policies / protocol pertaining to safety / screening for mentorship organizations, which serve as role models for at risk youth?

I have experience providing consulting services to youth associations regarding risk management, including child protection policies. I have reviewed various policies and created some policies for organizations, although the bulk of my work has been either with the organization as a director or as a present on the issue of risk management and child protection.

If so, are there additional safety measures which need to be taken to ensure that a relationship hasn't passed reasonable boundaries?

There are fairly well established guidelines for youth serving organizations put forth by the Dept. of Health and Human Services. These guidelines pose a challenge for organizations that establish one on one relationships. If an organization's policies permit one on one contact, volunteer screening and management - along with parent education and reporting procedures - become far more important. The at-risk nature of the youth clients also demands a much higher level of screening and management, as the client profile fits the typical victim profile of a child predator.

Have you ever served as an expert witness on a case involving sexual abuse?

I have been retained as an expert in a coaching molestation case before, though I was not deposed as the case resolved prior to trial.

About the expert

This expert is a litigation attorney with over 20 years of experience as an administrator, coaching director, officer, and board member of a multitude of youth soccer organizations. He has represented youth soccer organizations as an attorney and has experience as an expert witness in standard of care matters related to duties owed by an association to its participants. A regular lecturer and presenter to youth-serving organization on child protection and risk management, this expert has served on the Board of Directors of five different youth sports associations, two of which he was the President. He holds national level coaching licenses from both the National Soccer Coaches Association of America and the United States Soccer Federation, while he has served as an NCAA head soccer coach for men's and women's teams. Currently, this expert is the Owner and Principal of his own consulting firm that specializes in risk management and educational services for youth sports associations.