Overview of the DYS Child Protection Plan
The DYS Child Protection Plan was developed to protect our minor participants and assist the leagues in complying with the Safe Sport Act. This overview is a brief summary of the DYS Child Protection Plan that will give you the tools to protect the children in your league and help you become compliant with Federal Law. The complete plan that a league must adopt is located under the “League Risk Management” tab on the DYS website at www.dysusa.org.
The Safe Sport Act requires our league affiliates to report suspected child abuse (including sexual abuse) within 24 hours to law enforcement, to establish procedures to limit one-on-one interactions between an amateur athlete who is a minor and an adult (who is not the minor’s legal guardian) at an event or facility under a jurisdiction of the league, to provide consistent training to all adult members who are in regular contact with amateur athletes who are minors, and subject to parental consent, to provide information for parents to train their children regarding prevention and reporting of child abuse. DYS and its affiliated leagues must prohibit retaliation against any individual who makes a report required under the Safe Sport Act.
Taking steps to protect our youth is paramount in the DYS softball program. The purpose of this risk management plan is to reduce and/or prevent the occurrences of misconduct in DYS and affiliated leagues softball programs as well as to reduce the liability potential for DYS and its leagues. Misconduct can negatively impact participants, league official/staff members, family, friends, and the sport.
EDUCATION
The DYS Child Protection Plan serves as awareness education training for all league officials and staff who agree to educate themselves on all forms of misconduct and to refrain from engaging in such misconduct and in violating the policies herein. Leagues may adopt the DYS Child Protection Plan or adopt a similar comprehensive plan which complies with Federal law.
The DYS Child Protection Plan is designed for DYB, Inc. dba Diamond Youth Softball and its affiliated softball local league organizations. This Plan is also an educational document that meets the educational requirements for all adult volunteers. It should be posted on the national, state, district, and local league websites and freely copied and distributed to all adult officials, managers, coaches, volunteers, and parents in the program.
Specifically, a league will implement policies in the following areas to address all types of misconduct and to set forth boundaries of appropriate and inappropriate conduct: sexual misconduct, including child abuse; grooming behavior; physical misconduct; emotional misconduct; bullying; harassment; hazing; social media and electronic communications; locker rooms and changing areas; travel; reporting misconduct; screening official/staff; and monitoring for compliance.
DUTY TO REPORT
The Safe Sport Act passed by congress enacted in 2018 which establishes a nationwide standard “duty to report” suspected child abuse, including sexual abuse, within 24 hours to law enforcement. The duty to report extends to all youth softball programs and affiliated leagues. If an individual reasonably suspects a case of abuse within their league, they should report it to the appropriate child services organization and/or local law enforcement, as well as, their League Misconduct Officer(MO), the League President and District Director. The League should separately report such allegations to the appropriate law enforcement authorities as required by state and federal law. Failure to report such abuse may be a violation under state and/or federal law. Those making such reports may have civil and criminal immunity as long as the report was made in good faith. Participants and parents are also encouraged to report any reasonable suspicions of child sexual and child physical abuse to the League.
After making a report to law enforcement allow law enforcement to conduct its own investigation DO NOT engage in any internal investigations or attempt to investigate the credibility of any such allegation. An independent investigation may interfere with the investigation of law enforcement. Any league official/staff member, participant, or parent who has a reasonable suspicion of emotional abuse, bullying, harassment, hazing, or grooming behavior should report within 24 hours such misconduct to the League. Depending on the severity and nature of the allegations, the League should determine whether to immediately report such allegation within 24 hours to the appropriate law enforcement authorities as required by state or federal law.
Reports of all misconduct made to League may be made orally or in writing. The information required is the name of complainant(s) making the report, the type of misconduct alleged, the name(s) of the accused league officials or staff members who allegedly engaged in the misconduct, the approximate dates of misconduct, and any other relevant information.
Whistleblowers who report misconduct suspicions in good faith should be protected against any retaliation, punishment, and other harm regardless of the outcome of any investigation. To allow otherwise would defeat the purpose of the child abuse and misconduct risk management plan. Anyone who retaliates is subject to disciplinary action.
Likewise, complainants who act in bad faith in making malicious or frivolous allegations are subject to civil and criminal actions and disciplinary action by the league. In addition to the reporting requirements above, all DYS Leagues shall report to DYB, Inc dba Diamond Youth Softball:
- The identity of any person (coaches, volunteers, etc.) affiliated with it or any of its members who is convicted of, or pleads guilty to, or who is charged with and pleads guilty to a lesser offense, any crime of child abuse and/or crimes of a sexual nature, and
- the identity of any person (coaches, volunteers, etc.) who is permanently banned from participation in its activities or the activities of any of its members as a result of a claim of child abuse or as a result of a claim of sexual abuse.
- Any individual reported by a softball League to DYB, Inc. dba Diamond Youth Softball shall be reported to USA Baseball.
BACKGROUND CHECKS
The league should select a criminal background check vendor that will run background checks and will assist in interpreting results and in compliance with state and federal laws. DYS JDP Background Checks Link -JDP Background Checks
The league should select a criminal background check vendor that will run background checks and will assist in interpreting results and in compliance with state and federal laws.
All managers, coaches and other authorized adult participants in the league who have repetitive access to and close contact with minor athletes should undergo a background check for acceptability prior to initial assignment of duties. After the initial background check, the league should run a subsequent background check at least every three years or more often as the league deems appropriate
“The League at its discretion may require any other adult worker who does not have repetitive access to and close contact with minor athletes to submit to a background check based on a reasonable suspicion of possible prior criminal activity.” Note: Certain employees or independent contractors from outside the league may have repetitive access in close contact with youth. Steps shall be taken to make sure that a background check has been run on these individuals by their employer.
To be eligible to manage or coach on any DYS tournament team an individual MUST have passed a third-party criminal background check which searches the National Criminal Database and the National Sex Offender Registry in all 50 states (not limited to just sexual offender records) from state and county databases. The league president must submit the DYS Tournament Certification Form with the Tournament Team Eligibility Affidavit at the District Credentials Meeting before the first tournament game. Documentation of the successful passing of criminal background checks as described above for all managers and coaches must be made available immediately upon request.
This document is intended to summarize the DYS Child Protection Plan to give the league an idea of what the plan entails. To be compliant with Federal Law the league must adopt the full DYS Child Protection Plan that is located under the “Child Protection Plan” tab on our website at www.dysusa.org or adopt a similar plan which complies with Federal law.
DISCLAIMER: THIS CHILD PROTECTION PLAN IS MEANT TO PROVIDE GENERAL AWARENESS AND EDUCATION ON THE TOPIC OF MISCONDUCT IN YOUTH SOFBALL PROGRAMS AND SUGGESTED POLICIES COMPILED FROM VARIOUS RESOURCES AND IS NOT TO BE CONSTRUED AS ALL-ENCOMPASSING. THIS PLAN MAY CONTAIN INCORRECT INFORMATION AND MAY OMIT CRITICAL INFORMATION. SOFTBALL PROGRAMS SHOULD INDEPENDENTLY RESEARCH VARIOUS AUTHORITY SOURCES SUCH AS U.S. CENTER FOR SAFESPORT AND UPDATE AND CUSTOMIZE THIS PLAN, AS NECESSARY. NO SPECIFIC ADVICE OR LEGAL ADVICE IS BEING PROVIDED. ALL DYS LEAGUES ARE SUBJECT TO FEDERAL LAW (PUBLIC LAW 115-126) - The “Protecting Young Victims from Sexual Abuse and Safe Sport Authorization Act of 2017” (“Safe Sport Act”). LAWS PERTAINING TO CHILD ABUSE AND OTHER MISCONDUCT VARY FROM STATE TO STATE. ALWAYS CONTACT A LOCAL ATTORNEY FOR LEGAL ADVICE IN YOUR STATE. SADLER & COMPANY, INC.; dba SADLER SPORTS & RECREATION INSURANCE AND DYB, INC. dba DIAMOND YOUTH SOFTBALL DISCLAIM ANY AND ALL LIABILITY RESULTING FROM THE PUBLICATION AND USE OF THIS AWARENESS AND EDUCATIONAL RISK MANAGEMENT PLAN. IN EXCHANGE FOR RECEIPT OF THIS INFORMATION, RECIPIENT AGREES TO HOLD HARMLESS AND INDEMNIFY SADLER & COMPANY, INC.; dba SADLER SPORTS & RECREATION INSURANCE AND DYB, INC. dba DIAMOND YOUTH SOFTBALL AND ITS RESPECTIVE DIRECTORS, OFFICERS, AND EMPLOYEES FOR ANY CLAIMS OF BODILY INJURY, PROPERTY DAMAGE, OR OTHER DAMAGES, INCLUDING REASONABLE ATTORNEY’S FEES, TO THEMSELVES OR THIRD PARTIES.
