Welcome to the 2018-19 season. The primary changes to the SafeSport program at this time are all related to new federal legislation - the Protecting Young Victims from Sexual Abuse and Safe Sport Authorization Act of 2017. In the coming months the SafeSport program will change to reflect new policies and procedures, education and training that will impact all members of USA Hockey.
There are currently no changes to the existing USA Hockey SafeSport education from the prior season.
A reminder that SafeSport is applicable to every member of USA Hockey - not just travel programs. If you are a rink and are running USA Hockey programs, or an independent house program registering players with USA Hockey, all the SafeSport policies apply to your program. There is no “waiver” of compliance with SafeSport for any USA Hockey program. This is not new – but with the law, there is a renewed focus on compliance.
What’s new?
The SafeSport Act of 2017 is now federal law, and all member organizations must comply.
While the highlighted changes below indicate the key components of the new legislation, they will affect our membership immediately in the following ways:
Liability to report
Who must report
Accountability of the member organization (each program)
What has changed for CAHA?
A required Member Program Acknowledgement has been added:
The responsible party for each CAHA member organization will be required to sign an acknowledgement stating that they understand the terms and conditions of SafeSport and commit to complying with them. This acknowledgement will be required by October 31 annually. The responsible party is a program President, Manager, Owner, Executive, etc. – the person holding the highest office of responsibility in a program. Normally (but not always) this is the person who is the registered voting member in CAHA elections.
All member programs must report all SafeSport activity within their organization to the CAHA SafeSport Coordinator.
What does this mean? All NGB’s now have increased reporting responsibilities. If you plan to handle a SafeSport issue internally, the first step is to report it to your program’s SafeSport coordinator, who will report it to the CAHA SafeSport Coordinator. There are no exceptions to this reporting requirement. All NGB’s will be audited regularly for SafeSport activity, and every incident that is reported within an organization, must be reported to CAHA (through the organization’s SafeSport coordinator).
Mandatory duty to report all known or suspected instances of physical or sexual abuse.
All known, suspected or reported incidents of child physical or sexual abuse must be reported to the following in this order: local law enforcement, the U.S. Center for SafeSport, your program’s SafeSport coordinator and the CAHA SafeSport coordinator. There are step by step guides with information on how to report in the Educational Resources below.
Mandatory Reporter – who must report?
Duty to Report/Mandatory Reporter. Any individual who holds a designated position or role that interacts with minors in a youth sports organization (referred to as a “covered individual” and “mandatory reporter”) IS REQUIRED to report any known or suspected case of child abuse within 24 hours to both CPS or local law enforcement, as well as the U.S. Center for SafeSport. Who is a mandatory reporter? Every volunteer, board member, coach, manager, locker room monitor, SafeSport Liaison, etc. If you have a role in which you interact with minors in a youth sports organization, then you are now a mandatory reporter under the SafeSport Act of 2017. There are multiple sources of information regarding mandatory reporters in the Educational Resources below.
Criminal Penalties. An individual who is required, but fails, to report suspected child sexual abuse is subject to criminal penalties for non-reporting. This means that there are federal criminal penalties for non-reporting of information. There are also civil penalties for non-reporting in the State of California under the existing Mandatory Reporter legislation.
Organizational Changes. The USOC now has ultimate oversight of SafeSport across all NGB organizations, in conjunction with the US Center for SafeSport. Random and regular audits of all NGB SafeSport activities, education and training will be instituted. This is one reason that ALL SafeSport activity must be reported to the state affiliate.
The U.S. Center for SafeSport. The role of the U.S. Center for SafeSport will now expand to include both a (1) report and investigation office and a (2) education and outreach office. The education and outreach office will develop and have oversight of all SafeSport training criteria, requirements and materials, including screening. The U.S.C.S.S is the entity that will develop the new programming that supports any changes in policy and procedure for SafeSport.
Training:
Newbies: New SafeSport coordinators will be required to attend 1:1 training with the CAHA SafeSport Coordinator before September 30, 2018 (in-person, telephone and web-based training will be available).
Web Training: Web-based training will be available in the coming weeks and the schedule will be posted here.
Refreshers: Any organization desiring a refresher on SafeSport for multiple members, email Jaime Campbell for the availability of in-person and Web-based education.
Coaches: There is a new SafeSport training platform for CAHA’s coaches. Web-based and in-person training will be available, email Jaime Campbell.
COMING SOON: There will be changes to the SafeSport platform this season. The information will be distributed through this Website, club leadership and program SafeSport coordinators when it is available.
For questions about training, contact Jaime Campbell at: cahajaime@gmail.com.
Education Resources on SafeSport, The SafeSport Act, and Mandatory Reporting:
All covered individuals: SafeSport Liaisons, Coaches, Managers, Locker Room attendants, and all club/organization leadership - Must complete the online USA Hockey SafeSport course before participation begins. To take this training:
Click here to Register as a USAH participant (coach or volunteer)
Click here and follow the prompts to take the full training course.
If you have previously completed the SafeSport online course, check your compliance with the SafeSport certification list on the CAHA website before beginning; you may only need the refresher course.
Viewing these
videos does not constitute certification or re-certification as
being Safe Sport compliant with CAHA or USA Hockey. To be so
certified you must go to the USA Hockey Safe Sport page and follow
the directions concerning certification and re-certification.
