The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Boys & Girls Club officials fought to kill Connecticut oversight bill.
National officials from the Boys & Girls Clubs of America came to the Connecticut General Assembly in 2016 and successfully lobbied against legislation that would have required more stringent oversight of their organization, including mandated state and federal background checks that could help weed out possible child abusers.
At the time, the clubs officials said that they performed their own personnel screening procedures; and that such additional regulations under state child care law would be expensive and raise the price for member children, many of whom are underprivileged and live in the state’s inner cities.
But past and present leaders of the state’s Office of Early Childhood said Monday that tighter regulations have been needed for years, and that they will push for to end of the clubs’ license exemptions when the legislature meets again next year. State rules require both Connecticut and federal background research, as well as unannounced inspections of local day care programs.
“It’s not good policy to keep particular programs exempt,” said Beth Bye, a former state senator who was named current commissioner of the Office of Early Childhood by Gov. Ned Lamont. The states’ clubs have had the license exemption since 1971, Bye said. Also exempt are the LEAP program in New Haven and the Cardinal Shehan Center in Bridgeport.
Bye told Hearst Connecticut Media that her office, in conjunction with the state Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection, is currently adding the national sex offender registry to the required background checks for all program staff in statelicensed programs, or programs that accept funding under the state’s Care 4 Kids programming, which assists lowtomoderateincome families pay for child care.
Bye’s predecessor, Myra JonesTaylor, recalled in a Twitter post on Thursday that she proposed legislation to eliminate Connecticut’s licensing exemption for the Boys & Girls Clubs, as well as other afterschool providers “in response to numerous complaints from parents about lack of supervision.”
Bye and JonesTaylor were both reacting to the Hearst investigation into abuse throughout the country connected to Boys & Girls Clubs that included 250 victims in 30 states.
In February 2016, Chastity Mitchell, a regional official for the Atlantabased Boys & Girls Clubs, joined state and local club executives, in trying to defeat the additional oversight legislation in the General Assembly.
“All local Boys and Girls Clubs are sanctioned and monitored by Boys and Girls Clubs of America and must adhere to the national organization’s requirements of membership which hold child safety as our No. 1 priority,” said Mitchell in testimony before the legislative Education Committee. Mitchell said at the time that the proposal was an attempt to “single out” Boys & Girls Clubs.
“I am compelled to testify because, if these recommendations are implemented, the clubs in Connecticut will be faced with closing, limiting membership or raising the cost of membership to a prohibitive amount,” testified Don Maleto, executive director of the Alliance of Boys and Girls Clubs in Connecticut.
At issue was whether the Boys & Girls Clubs meet the state’s definition of day care provider. While the overall bill passed and was signed into law by thenGov. Dannel P. Malloy, the clubs succeeded in retaining their exemption. If the clubs were categorized as day care facilities, then additional state scrutiny would be mandated.
Bye noted that rules vary around the country. Boys and Girls Clubs in Missouri, California, and Tennessee are all exempt.
“The Boys and Girls Club of Greenwich is a youth development organization, not day care, babysitter or school readiness provider,” said Bobby Walker Jr., CEO of the Greenwich club in the 2016 testimony.“The elimination of the child day care license exemption would destroy our model of serving our community.”
The Office of Early Childhood said that the two Boys & Girls Club summer camps in Greenwich, including Camp Simmons, are both fully licensed under state law.
Bye said the Hearst revelations “are just awful” and children deserve better protections. “Many lives have been impacted in a terrible way due to this abuse,” she said. “It is an example of why we have a system of oversight and regulations for child care, afterschool programs and summer camps. OEC inspectors are out in the field every day working to ensure child safety. Parents rely on our system of regulations to protect their children.”