A Utah soccer coach has been arrested and charged with rape of a child, sodomy upon a child, aggravated sexual abuse of a child, rape, sodomy and forcible sexual abuse.  (Read full story).  The allegations suggest that the coach was a friend of the player’s family, and that the player would visit the coach in his home.  The sexual contact allegedly began at age 13 and continued until age 17.  The girl finally confided in a relative, leading to the arrest of the coach.  Police were unable to determine if the suspect was still coaching because he refused to be interviewed by investigators and requested an attorney.  He is pictured wearing an AC Milan jersey in his mugshot.  Police are not sure if there are other victims and are actively investigating.

The circumstances described in this story highlight again the need for soccer clubs to craft clear guidelines regarding acceptable contact between coaches and players in setting outside of club activities.  Drafting an extra-organizational contact policy is a careful process that must account for incidental contact, pre-existing relationships between families, and the overriding concern of child protection.  In addition, a policy on extra-organizational contact must be coupled with a clear line for reporting and investigating violations.

It seems unlikely that a four year pattern of visits to the house of a coach would be unknown to anyone other than the participants.  However, if nobody knew of a prohibition or a way to report their suspicions, knowledge that could have prevented or minimized the extent of the abuse could have gone to waste.  Creating extra-organizational contact policies are as important as two adult policies and social media/e-communications policies.  At Placek Consulting, we can design a policy customized to the structure of your organization.  Contact us through the website or at 512-879-1655 for assistance.

A Torrance, California ice skating coach has been charged with molesting a young student over the course of several years.  (Full story here.).  This coach taught at a variety of ice rinks and for at least two ice skating schools.  Of particular note is the allegation that the abuse occurred in the coach’s home.  These allegations point out the importance of making sure that your organization has an extra-organizational contact policy in place.  Extra-organizational contact is any contact between a volunteer/coach and a youth participant that occurs outside of the organization’s programming.  Extra-organizational contact policies aim to minimize the chances that a youth participant may be isolated with the volunteer/coach in a setting over which the organization has no control.

Crafting a workable policy is a challenge.  In a recreational setting, with volunteers, many of your coaches will have children of the same age that they coach.  Interaction may occur in school settings, in visits with friends of their children or just in the community.  With paid coaches, the likelihood of innocent extra-organizational contact is much smaller.  A sound extra-organizational contact policy must address both of these situations in a workable manner.

At Placek Consulting, we can help your association put an extra-organizational contact policy in place.  This can be done as part of a broader risk management plan or as a one time policy service.  Contact us to find out how we can help.