The Boy Scouts of America places the greatest importance on creating the most secure environment possible for our youth members. To maintain such an environment, the BSA developed numerous procedural and leadership selection policies and provides parents and leaders with resources for theCub Scout, Boy Scout, and Venturing programs.

Leadership Selection

The Boy Scouts of America takes great pride in the quality of our adult leadership. Being a leader in the BSA is a privilege, not a right. The quality of the program and the safety of our youth members call for high-quality adult leaders. We work closely with our chartered organizations to help recruit the best possible leaders for their units.

The adult application requests background information that should be checked by the unit committee or the chartered organization before accepting an applicant for unit leadership. While no current screening techniques exist that can identify every potential child molester, we can reduce the risk of accepting a child molester by learning all we can about an applicant for a leadership position—his or her experience with children, why he or she wants to be a Scout leader, and what discipline techniques he or she would use.

Required Training

• Youth Protection training is required for all BSA registered volunteers.
• Youth Protection training must be taken every two years. If a volunteer’s Youth Protection training record is not current at the time of recharter, the volunteer will not be reregistered.

You do not have to be a registered member or have a member ID to take Youth Protection training.

To take Youth Protection training go toMyScouting.org  and create an account.

From the MyScouting.org portal, click on E-Learning and take the Youth Protection training.

Upon completion, you may print a certificate of completion to submit with a volunteer application or submit the completion certificate to the unit leader for processing at the local council.

When your volunteer application is approved, you will receive a BSA membership card which includes your member ID number. After you receive your membership card, log back into MyScouting, click on My Profile and update the system by inputting your member ID number. This will link your Youth Protection training records, and any other training, in MyScouting to your BSA membership.