Girl Safety

Girl Scouts of the USA is a completely separate and distinct national organization from the Boy Scouts of America. Girl Scouts of Oregon and Southwest Washington has a variety of policies in place to ensure girl safety at all times. These include:

  • Performing background checks on potential employees; volunteers working directly with girls including transporting girls, traveling with girls; volunteers that handle money; and anyone over 18 years old that live in a residence that a Girl Scout event takes place. Our background check process covers the entire US and also includes checking the sex offender databases nationwide. 
  • Requiring that at least two unrelated adults be supervising girls at all times. These individuals can not be related by blood, marriage or household. Anytime an adult male is working with girls, an adult female who has completed the volunteer application process and who is not related by blood, marriage or household shall also be in attendance at all times. We also have required girl/adult ratios that are based on the activity taking place.
  • Requiring volunteers to complete the appropriate training before working with girls.
  • Requiring signed parent/guardian permission slips to participate in activities outside the normal meeting time, outings, trips, high risk activities and sensitive issues.
  • Requiring all Girl Scout activities are covered by the appropriate insurance.  Annual membership dues included a secondary insurance in case anything should happen during a Girl Scout activity.
  • Requiring volunteers to follow Safety-Wise guidelines (a Girl Scouts USA manual on how to keep girls safe) and our council’s Volunteer Policies and Procedures.
  • Requiring our volunteers to immediately report any incidents or strong suspicions of child abuse or neglect to the appropriate agency and inform Girl Scouts OSW. During training, we provide a pamplet written by DHS. We also encourage volunteers to take an online course on child abuse and reporting that was developed by representatives from various education service districts, school districts and welfare organizations.
  • Nationally developed resources for girls and parents that cover online safety topics like cyberbullying, social networking, and protecting girls from online sexual predators.  We encourage girls take the Girl Scout Internet Safety Pledge.