The Boy Scouts of America (BSA) has failed to win the 75 percent level of support the group had targeted from men who said they were victims of sexual abuse while in the organization, falling just short with 73 percent, according to the Associated Press and multiple other reports.

The BSA wanted to get to 75 percent support benchmark as part of a $2.7 billion settlement plan with the victims. The plan would pull the BSA out of bankruptcy if approved by the courts. 

The chances of the deal getting such muster increases if a large number of victims back the plan. In the preliminary vote, held among 53,888 claimants who have so far cast votes, 73 percent voted in support of the plan and 27 percent against it. 

However, the current tally is not final, and a final voting report is due Jan. 17.

The BSA said it was hopeful the plan would garner additional support.

“We are encouraged by these preliminary results and are actively engaging key parties in our case with the hope of reaching additional agreements, which could potentially garner further support for the plan before confirmation,” the organization said in a statement.

The plan calls for the BSA and its local councils to create an $820 million fund in cash and property for abuse claimants, also including certain insurance rights. The organization and councils would then be released from liability for sexual abuse claims.

  The plan would be the largest aggregate sexual abuse settlement in U.S. history.

The BSA initially sought bankruptcy protection in February 2020, following a surge in sexual abuse lawsuits after several states passed laws allowing accusers to sue over decades-old allegations.

At the time, the BSA faced 275 lawsuits. In the bankruptcy case, it faces over 82,000 sexual abuse claims.

 Boy Scouts bankruptcy plan fails to win support from victims | TheHill 

DOVER, Del. (AP) — Congregations affiliated with the United Methodist Church have agreed to contribute $30 million to a fund for victims who say they were molested as youngsters in the Boy Scouts of America, an attorney said Tuesday.

A committee representing United Methodist churches that sponsored Scouting activities also agreed to help raise an additional $100 million for the fund.

Jessica Lauria, an attorney for the BSA, told Judge Laurie Selber Silverstein about the planned agreement during an online hearing Tuesday in federal bankruptcy court in Delaware. Lauria said the United Methodist-affiliated churches would receive protected party status, which means they would be released from further liability for abuse claims.

The proposed trust is expected to grow to more than $2.6 billion and would be the largest sexual abuse settlement in U.S. history.

More than 82,000 sexual abuse claims have been filed in the bankruptcy case. Victims who say they were abused must vote by Dec. 28 on a Boy Scouts reorganization plan.

Judge Silverstein had originally scheduled a hearing starting Jan. 24 to consider the voting results and to decide whether the plan meets the requirements of the bankruptcy code and should be approved. But on Tuesday, the judge pushed the hearing start date to Feb. 22 to give attorneys more time to prepare.

Tuesday’s announcement involving United Methodist churches comes a week after attorneys said a tentative settlement was reached with one of BSA’s largest insurers, Century Indemnity Co. and affiliated companies had agreed to contribute $800 million into the fund in return for being released from further liability for abuse claims.

Other agreements involve another major Boy Scouts insurer, The Hartford, and the BSA’s former largest troop sponsor, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, commonly known as the Mormon church. The Hartford has agreed to pay $787 million into the victims’ fund, and the Mormons have agreed to contribute $250 million. In exchange, both entities would be released from any further liability involving child sex abuse claims.

The BSA is continuing to negotiate with Roman Catholic-affiliated churches that sponsored Scouting units.

The Boy Scouts, based in Irving, Texas, sought bankruptcy protection in February 2020, seeking to halt hundreds of individual lawsuits and create a fund for victims who say they were sexually abused as children.

 United Methodists to join in plan for Boy Scouts bankruptcy | AP News 

Key points:

• More than 9,000 United Methodist churches that sponsored troops have a say in the Boy Scouts of America’s sex abuse-related bankruptcy proceedings.
• A United Methodist Ad Hoc Committee has been part of negotiations for the BSA bankruptcy plan.
• That committee continues to negotiate but is advising United Methodist churches to vote against approving the current plan, given a deadline looms for submitting votes. 

More than 9,000 United Methodist churches with a history of sponsoring Scouting troops have a say in the Boy Scouts of America’s sex abuse-related bankruptcy proceedings. 

With a deadline looming, United Methodist leaders earlier this week began advising those churches to vote “no” on a proposed BSA bankruptcy reorganization plan. A press release reiterating that recommendation went out on Dec. 2.

The plan seeks to halt a deluge of lawsuits against BSA by creating a fund for those who, as Scouts, experienced sexual abuse from troop leaders or others. Under the plan’s latest version, nearly $1.9 billion has been committed to the fund.

A next step in the complicated litigation is an approval vote for the plan. 

Abuse survivors are one class of voters. Others are local Boy Scout Councils, insurers and sponsoring or “chartering” organizations such as churches that provided space for Scout troops or Cub packs, took responsibility for their leadership and could be sued by survivors. 

A United Methodist Ad Hoc Committee — consisting of eight annual conference chancellors, two bishops, two lawyers from the General Council on Finance and Administration and two staff members from United Methodist Men — has been part of the bankruptcy negotiations.

Members of the committee have sought a plan that deals compassionately with abuse survivors financially and otherwise, but also protects United Methodist churches from abuse-related lawsuits.

The United Methodist committee was part of mediation talks that continued through the Thanksgiving weekend. But votes on approval for the plan have to be in by Dec. 14, in anticipation of a January bankruptcy court hearing. 

So the committee has put out the word that the churches involved — all of them in the U.S. — should vote “no.”

In a message to annual conferences and shared publicly by some, the Ad Hoc Committee said:

“We do not have a signed settlement that would bring healing to the survivors and a release from claims against United Methodist local churches and other United Methodist entities. These releases are essential to prevent congregations and United Methodist entities from being sued and numerous court cases for United Methodists to defend.”

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, once a major chartering organization for BSA, announced in September that it would pay $250 million into the survivors’ fund. The Associated Press reported that the LDS church’s settlement within the larger plan included protection from abuse-related lawsuits. 

Bishop John Schol, who chairs a leadership team working with the Ad Hoc Committee, stressed in a phone interview that negotiations for a United Methodist Church settlement remain active.

“We continue to work vigorously to reach a settlement, but if we are unable to reach a settlement, the present plan will greatly impact United Methodist congregations and United Methodists as a whole,” he said.

Schol noted that “no” votes can be changed to “yes” if the committee reaches an acceptable agreement.

Annual conferences have scrambled this week to alert churches to have charge conferences for deciding on a vote and getting it submitted in time. The ballot has to be received by Dec. 14, not just mailed by then. 

The United Methodist Church and predecessor denominations have worked with BSA for more than 100 years. 

As of 2020, United Methodist Men — the church agency overseeing the denomination’s Scouting ministries — reported that more than 3,000 United Methodist churches chartered some 9,000 scouting units, serving 300,000 youth.

The United Methodist Church is the denomination most involved with BSA, and connects with about 20% of BSA youth membership. 

Beset by abuse claims going back many years, BSA filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in February 2020. It’s been trying for a plan that would compensate abuse survivors, halt litigation and allow the organization to continue operating. 

But it’s been a complex undertaking, involving competing abuse survivors’ representatives, Boy Scout Councils, insurers and chartering organizations. 

A little over a year ago, United Methodist leaders encouraged local churches with a history of chartering troops to file a “proof of claim” in the bankruptcy, asserting rights to insurance coverage or any other protection BSA might have offered.

The more than 9,000 churches that filed a proof of claim are the ones voting on whether to approve the plan. 

Church leaders said in an Aug. 15 press release that the bankruptcy plan, as drafted then, left “as many as 5,000” United Methodist congregations in the U.S. exposed to potential lawsuits by abuse survivors.

The BSA faces more than 82,000 sexual abuse complaints within the bankruptcy proceeding.

In September, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Laurie Selber Silverstein of Delaware approved a process for soliciting votes on the plan. Even if the different voting classes decide affirmatively, the plan would still require court approval. A confirmation hearing is set for Jan. 24.

The Ad Hoc Committee said in the Dec. 2 press release that it would be prepared to present its objections to the plan to the court if no settlement is reached. 

A nine-member official tort claimants committee, appointed by a U.S. Trustee to represent all the abuse survivors, has advised voting against the plan, calling it “grossly unfair” in compensation for survivors.

But the Coalition for Abused Scouts for Justice, representing about 18,000 of the abuse survivors, wants a “yes” vote, saying the survivors’ fund is the largest of its kind in U.S. history and that the plan is the quickest, best solution 

That group notes that the fund could see “significant additional contributions,” including from settlements by groups that chartered troops.

The sexual abuse claims against the BSA date from 1939 to 2020.

Voting on the plan began in October, but United Methodist leaders earlier advised not taking any action as the Ad Hoc Committee worked toward a settlement that better protected chartered groups.  

https://www.umnews.org/en/news/churches-advised-to-oppose-bsa-bankruptcy-plan?fbclid=IwAR2wG-MakD6DuyqIIERQW6SJodL2Ci_O3VJxLrXSxufdx3coIUldTzgfCo0

I was an active Boy Scout as a teenager because I had strong motivation: getting myself the hell out of the Scouting movement. It was a cultural rite and a family thing, one I hated—but the rule was that I couldn’t leave until I’d reached the highest rank. My older brothers were Eagle Scouts, as were most of my cousins and nephews. Now the Boy Scouts of America are filing for bankruptcy, like USA Gymnastics and a bunch of Catholic dioceses in the United States before them, and for similar reasons. The Scouts’ motto, of course, is “Be Prepared,” but when it came to compensating a mere fraction of the victims of sexual assault in their dens, they weren’t. Now their finances will mirror their morals.

Good, I thought, when I heard the news. I hope this means they’re dead as a cultural force. The entire Scouting ethos is based on predation. One guy from a Virginia Boy Scouts troop of mine later pleaded guilty to molesting children in a church building during his Mormon mission to Las Vegas. I lost track of most of the rest. I made Eagle at 14, and that was that.

I’d started out early in the organization, in Germany; my dad was stationed at Bitburg Air Base, but our family lived out in town, which meant that, aside from school, Cub Scouts was where I hung out with Americans of my own age. I was indifferent to the group, but I loved the outdoors; I spent most of my time out in the woods or down by the river and traveled steadily up the ranks—Bobcat, Wolf, Bear, and Webelos, and Arrow of Light, for which I vaguely recall walking a thin, slightly raised platform meant to symbolize a bridge.

It wasn’t really my thing, but in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints it was the official youth program for boys, and a record of promotions through the organization was cultural currency—tangible evidence, like the accumulation of material goods, of your spiritual success. Having a family full of Eagle Scouts meant having a family full of righteous men, and training began early. It was simply something I knew I’d have to get through.

By the time we moved back to the States, I was 11, eligible to join the Boy Scouts; there wasn’t much choice in the matter. Scouting should’ve been a natural fit: I already enjoyed running around in the woods by my house wearing camouflage, playing Army man; I’d sewn my own ghillie suit. But Scouting was full of weirdos being babysat by man-children on power trips once a week on Wednesday night, with weekend campouts every couple of months, plus a week at a Scout camp in summer.

The Boy Scouts ripped off and distorted Native American dress, customs, and cultures as shamelessly as Instagramming white girls in headdress at Coachella.

I raced through the program as fast as possible, ready to quit once I’d gotten Eagle. My Boy Scout Requirements 1993–1995 book charts the minimum required progress for Eagle Scout: 16 months and a total of 21 merit badges. That’s what I did, carefully and cynically choosing the easiest elective merit badges, like Pets (“Requirement 3: Present evidence that you have cared for a pet for four months”) and Collections (“Requirement 2: Explain the growth and development of your collection”). These accompanied the required merit badges, like Personal Management (“Requirement 6: Tell how important credit and installment buying are to our economy and the individual and the family”).

Doing this, I learned—and am reminded now, flipping through the merit badge requirements—how much the Boy Scouts were cultural predators. They ripped off and distorted Native American dress, customs, and cultures as shamelessly as Instagramming white girls in headdress at Coachella. The “Indian Lore” merit badge required a scout to give the history of one Indian tribe, make a full Indian costume, and visit a museum to see Indian artifacts but never once mentions talking to a Native person—there are only 2.9 million in the U.S.

A fraternity within Boy Scouts called Order of the Arrow is among the worst at such cultural appropriation: Its “tapping out” ceremony, described here by Native artist and Scout mother Ozheebeegay Ikwe, leans heavily on whites wearing redface. (“While American Indian attire has been the historic tradition used in OA ceremonies,” the Order announced in an update on its website last month, “circumstances may dictate that lodges use either the Scout Field Uniform or the Alternative Ceremonial Clothing.” The announcement concluded by assuring OA members that “Ceremony scripts and the core messages they possess are remaining the same.”)

The high cost of the Scouting program was another form of predation: It’s expensive to be a member. Today, a bare-bones short-sleeve Scout shirt sets parents back $36.99, a shoulder patch $3.49, a long-sleeve shirt and switchback canvas uniform pants each come in at $39.99, a belt $12.99, a neckerchief $10.99, and socks $9.99. Not that the uniform components were all required, but that resulted in a tiered uniform system that subtly distinguished the rich and upper-middle-class kids from the poor. Kids with money had better gear for camping, and it was never cheap to attend a national or international jamboree (which worked out for me, since I had little interest in going).

At my Eagle Scout board of review, I recall feeling uncomfortable as old men asked me what I would do if one of my friends told me they were gay (“Requirement 2: Demonstrate Scout Spirit by living the Scout Oath”). To my shame—to this day, it bothers me—I hedged, faced those stuffy codgers wearing $9 Boy Scout socks and matching bright kerchiefs, put on my most earnest expression, and said something to the effect that I would try to help my hypothetical gay friend not be so gay, if they didn’t want to be gay. This seemed to satisfy them, as did the thousand-plus books that my book drive collected for the Children’s Hospital of the King’s Daughters. I passed my review, got my terminal rank, had it presented in another weird ceremony, then kept my promise and promptly quit. Years later, when I enlisted in the Army, I entered at a slightly higher than usual rank, private first class, because I had been an Eagle Scout.

The whole Scouting organization was rotten, that’s been crystal clear to me since then; it seemed confirmed when disaster artist Robert Gates left the BSA presidency in 2016. When your outfit is abandoned by a Beltway maven who failed to predict the Soviet Union’s fall as an intel analyst, palled around with Iran-Contra conspirators as a CIA deputy director, and oversaw America’s post-9/11 wars of choice as the secretary of defense—twice—you know there’s some sinister shit afoot. Rats are always the first ones off a sinking ship.

The Boy Scouts have long known about the predators within their midst: Their own closely guarded “Perversion Files” tracked sexual abuse cases from 1944 to 2016. The numbers are staggering: 12,000 alleged victims—all children and teenagers—abused by 7,800 separately identified Scoutmasters. Think about those numbers, coming from an organization that held itself up as a pillar of American morality. That’s at least 72 years of horrifying, intimate abuse, hidden and concealed by an organization that taught its charges to “Do a good turn daily” while producing enough victims to fill an Army division. Many of these victims had no safe place to turn—as the new documentary The Church and the First Estate painfully shows. The film follows the story of Adam Steed, who was told by both his Scout and church leaders to forgive his abuser and forget the abuse but went to the police instead. The Scoutmaster accused by Steed admitted to molesting 24 other boys, ultimately receiving five months in jail and 15 years’ parole. It boggles the mind.

All this was going on while the Scouts fought unsuccessful battles in court to keep barring openly gay men from serving in their ranks. Meanwhile, the adult Scouting executives were making out like bandits—in 2009, a Charity Navigator report showed that the CEO of BSA was one of the top five earners in the nonprofit space, taking home a cool $1,577,600 in annual salary. The long con of Scouting paid off, until it didn’t. The glut of allegations and evidence is overwhelming—by the BSA’s count, it faces 275 abuse lawsuits across the U.S., plus thousands more additional claims, above and beyond the ones it’s already settled to the tune of $150 million it has paid in settlements since 2017. Even with $1.4 billion in assets, the organization faces so many credible abuse claims that its insurance policies are refusing to pay out.

Though I didn’t have the language to express it in my youth, I discovered that the Boy Scouts of America was full of men like Bob Gates: self-righteous, well-scrubbed creeps who kept their external aura of civic virtue shiny, obscuring the grubby evil in the institutions and traditions they oversaw. Reading through the lawsuits against the organization, it becomes clear that the BSA was an organization by predators for predators, optimized to groom and produce more predators. We should learn lessons from the victimized children’s stories, about accountability and justice: Judging from this preemptive bankruptcy, I doubt we ever will.

 Let the Boy Scouts Die Out, Already | The New Republic 

https://www.facebook.com/Good-Enough-For-Government-Work-244154405947529

https://www.facebook.com/Zorrow-204733180251379

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Boy Scouts of America councils are expected to contribute to a national settlement trust to resolve claims of child sex abuse with contributions from bodies with West Virginia members ranging from less than $190,000 to nearly $6 million.

The Boy Scouts filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in February 2020 as the Irving, Texas-based organization faced multiple lawsuits involving people who say they were sexually abused while in the program. Part of the proposed restructuring plan involves payments addressing more than 82,000 claims.

More than 1,000 unique abuse claims have been filed against eight councils with West Virginia units.

“One case of abuse is too many,” Jeffrey Purdy, scout executive of the Buckskin Council, said during an interview with MetroNews. “It’s unfortunate that over the years, people have used the Scouting program to hurt kids. It’s unfortunate and unforgivable.”

Under the proposal, the Boy Scouts and councils would contribute up to $820 million to a victims’ compensation fund; the 251 local councils would put forward $500 million in contributions. In return, the national organization and local chapters would receive legal protection from people who filed claims.

The Hartford, one of the Boy Scouts’ insurers, and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have agreed to pay $787 million and $250 million respectively. They would also receive liability protection.

Local councils are legally independent and separate from the national organization and rely on fundraising to operate. Councils own camps, offices and other properties, and hire staff to maintain services, manage funds and recruit organizations to sponsor units. The BSA provides corporate resources and administrative help to councils in addition to guidelines related to program structure.

Councils previously had to purchase insurance policies covering issues including sexual abuse. The Boy Scouts in 1971 began adding councils to its liability insurance policies and agreed in 1978 to procure general liability insurance coverage for all chapters.

The local councils’ contributions will consist of cash and property. According to the Boy Scouts, the amounts were determined after reviewing claims with consideration to what councils could offer while continuing to provide Scouting.

“This is a critical component of the overall plan to emerge from the BSA’s financial restructuring,” the organization said in an email.

“Each Local Council was given discretion to allocate their contribution between cash and property,” the BSA added. “No Local Council is required to sell property and, indeed, many are not. Because Scouting is delivered on a local basis, we believe that it is critical to empower each Local Council to make their contribution in the form they chose.” 

According to court documents, $408.4 million of council contributions will be cash.

A federal bankruptcy judge in Delaware has received information related to the expectations for each council:

SHENANDOAH AREA COUNCIL

The Shenandoah Area Council is headquartered in Winchester, Virginia, and has units in six Virginia counties and Morgan, Berkeley and Jefferson counties in West Virginia. 

Twenty-eight claims were filed against the council. The body’s contribution to the compensation fund would be $188,673 in cash.

Shenandoah Area Council Scout Executive Robert Garrett told MetroNews the council is planning to accept donations that the body would dedicate toward the settlement.

“We have some very generous folks that are helping us through the process and are making contributions so it does not affect our current scouts, our future scouts or our program,” he said. “We are looking at several options to fund that will allow us to continue our mission utilizing these volunteers.”

VIRGINIA HEADWATERS COUNCIL

The Virginia Headwaters Council, which operates from Waynesboro, Virginia, has units in western Virginia and West Virginia’s Pendleton County. It was known as the Stonewall Jackson Area Council until November 2019 when the council board approved a name change.

Court documents note 39 unique claims against the council. The council is expected to contribute $287,066 in cash.

MOUNTAINEER AREA COUNCIL

The Mountaineer Area Council has units in 12 counties in northcentral West Virginia and is headquartered in Fairmont. The council faces 41 individual abuse claims.

The expectation for the council is to contribute $527,717, of which $416,717 will be in cash.

According to court documents, the Mountaineer Area Council owns a service center valued at $111,000. The council can sell the property with proceeds going toward the settlement trust.

Council staff directed questions about the settlement to the national organization.

MUSKINGUM VALLEY COUNCIL

Much of the membership of the Muskingum Valley Council, which has central offices in Zanesville, Ohio, consists of counties in eastern and southeastern Ohio. Pleasants County is the only West Virginia county with units in the chapter. 

The council faces 47 unique claims, and its listed contribution is $513,391 in cash.

OHIO RIVER VALLEY COUNCIL

The Ohio River Valley Council includes Hancock, Brooke, Ohio, Marshall, Wetzel, and Tyler counties and some Ohio counties. The council’s main office is in Wheeling.

The council faces 55 unique abuse claims. Its expected contribution is $835,582 in cash and a $60,000 property contribution.

According to Ohio River Valley Council Scout Executive Dan Bettison, the cash contribution will come from money collected from selling unused property. The property contribution will be similar regarding land currently owned by the council. 

BUCKSKIN COUNCIL

The Buckskin Council is headquartered in Charleston and consists of 40 counties in West Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio and Virginia. The council has grown following several mergers with councils throughout the region.  

The chapter has received attention for being home to the Summit Bechtel Family National Scout Reserve in Fayette County. The site has hosted two National Scout Jamborees and a World Scout Jamboree since opening in 2013.

Court documents show 284 claims and two pending lawsuits against the council.

Purdy, who has served as the area’s scout executive since 2008, said local leaders have agreed to participate in the settlement; the council will contribute $1,890,783 in cash. He added the money will most likely come from a “land fund.”

“Because we merged with several number of councils over the last number of years plus with the building of the national property — the Summit right next to Beckley — we’ve had excess property that we’ve sold,” he explained. “It had been the hope of the board of the Buckskin Council to take the sales of those properties and invest them into an endowment-like fund that would create annual income for the council and perpetuity.”

Purdy expressed disappointment in not being able to use the funds for the original intent but noted the approach would not affect current operations.

“The good news is that what that means is we’re not going to be using any types of donations or funds that we’ve received in the last 50 years for this contribution for the victim’s fund,” he said. 

BUCKEYE COUNCIL

The Buckeye Council is headquartered in Canton, Ohio, and has units located in central Ohio and West Virginia’s Hancock County. 

The council faces 179 unique abuse claims with two lawsuits pending. It is expected to pay $2,614,529; the chapter’s contribution includes $1,945,529 in cash and $669,000 as a property contribution.

LAUREL HIGHLANDS COUNCIL

Most of the Laurel Highlands Council’s units are located in Pennsylvania, but there are groups in Maryland as well as Grant, Hardy, Hampshire, and Mineral counties in West Virginia. The council operates out of Pittsburgh.

Court documents show 383 claims against the council. 

The council’s contribution expectation is $5,972,147. In a statement, the council said the money will come from an unrestricted endowment fund.

“It is important to note that restricted donations can only be used for their designated purposes and are legally protected so that they are used as the donor specified,” the body said.

BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA ASSETS

The Boy Scouts will fund its portion of the settlement trust by offering a collection of artwork by Norman Rockwell and other artists, a warehouse facility in North Carolina, oil and gas interests in several states, a 10,000 square-foot building in Texas, and unrestricted cash.

The national organization is not the owner of the Summit Bechtel Family National Scout Reserve. Bankruptcy filings show Arrow WV Inc., a nonprofit corporation, owns the property and leases the site to the Boy Scouts for “nominal consideration.” The national organization funded the facility’s construction and currently provides operational services.

ABUSE CLAIM PAYMENTS

Alleged victims had to submit a claim by Nov. 16, 2020 to receive a payment from the bankruptcy plan. According to court documents, 82,200 unique claims were filed.

Consultants for the Boy Scouts estimate the value of the abuse claims ranges between $2.4 billion and $7.1 billion.

Under the proposal, claimants can receive a minimum of $3,500 under expedited distribution. People who do not take this option can submit their abuse claim for an evaluation with the possibility of receiving a payment worth as much as $2.7 million.

Bankruptcy Judge Laurie Selber Silverstein on Thursday approved a disclosure statement on the Boy Scouts’ reorganization plan. The BSA will use the first weeks of October to send claimants information packages explaining the reorganization strategy and urging support.

Claimants must submit their ballots by Dec. 14. A confirmation hearing on the results is scheduled for Jan. 24, 2022.

BSA: SCOUTING IS SAFE

When asked if Scouting is a safe program, the Boy Scouts pointed out its policies and programs targeting sexual abuse. All volunteers and employees are required to complete youth protection training and undergo what the BSA describes as “a thorough screening process.” Two adults must also be present at youth activities, and one-on-one situations between adults and scouts are banned.

The organization also noted information filed in the restructuring case showing most claims cite alleged incidents that happened before 1990.

“In other words, a very substantial majority of these claims predate the introduction of the BSA’s modern Youth Protection Protocols,” the Boy Scouts told MetroNews. “While any instance of abuse is one too many, Scouting today is safer than ever before.”

Purdy also touted the national organization’s policies, saying the rules have created a safer environment for children.

“We have refined the protocols over the years to make our Scouting program safe,” he said. “The unfortunate thing is the vast majority of these claims came before youth protection training programs and protocols were known and put into place. 

“It’s unfortunate, and we want to do our part for those victims. We also know that we have a very safe program for scouts.”

Ahead of its bankruptcy filing, the Boy Scouts entered a five-year partnership with 1in6, a national nonprofit that provides male survivors of sexual assault with various resources. The BSA said the relationship would allow 1in6 to expand its online helpline and offer more weekly support groups to people abused while in the program.

 BSA councils to contribute varying amounts to abuse fund - WV MetroNews 

 DOVER, Del. — A Delaware judge ruled Thursday that the Boy Scouts of America can enter into a pivotal $850 million agreement that the organization hopes to use as a springboard to emerging from bankruptcy later this year, but rejected two key provisions of the deal.

Following three days of testimony and arguments, the judge granted the BSA's request to enter into an agreement involving the national Boy Scouts organization, roughly 250 local Boy Scout councils, and attorneys representing some 70,000 men who say they were sexually abused as youngsters decades ago while engaged in Boy Scout-related activities. The agreement calls for the Boy Scouts and local councils to contribute $850 million into a fund for abuse claimants.

The agreement was opposed by insurers who issued policies to the Boy Scouts and local councils, attorneys representing thousands of other abuse victims, and various church denominations that have sponsored local Boy Scout troops.

It was not immediately clear how the judge's ruling will affect the future of the bankruptcy case, given that she rejected two significant provisions in the agreement.

While ruling that BSA officials exercised proper business judgment as required under the law in entering into the agreement, the judge refused to grant a request that the Boy Scouts be allowed to pay millions of dollars in legal fees and expenses of attorneys hired by law firms that represent tens of thousands of abuse claimants.

She also denied the BSA's request under the agreement for permission to withdraw from an April agreement in which insurance company The Hartford would pay $650 million into the fund for abuse claimants in exchange for being released from any further liability.

The Boy Scouts of America, based in Irving, Texas, sought bankruptcy protection in February 2020 in an effort to halt hundreds of individual lawsuits and create a huge compensation fund for thousands of men who were molested as youngsters by scoutmasters or other leaders. Although the organization was facing 275 lawsuits at the time of the filing, it is now facing some 82,500 sexual abuse claims in the bankruptcy case.

Under the agreement, the Boy Scouts would contribute up to $250 million in cash and property to a fund for victims of child sexual abuse. The local councils, which run day-to-day operations for Boy Scout troops, would contribute $600 million. In addition, the national organization and local councils would transfer their rights to Boy Scout insurance policies to the victims fund. In return, they would be released from future liability for abuse claims.

Opponents of the deal argued that BSA officials failed to fully inform themselves or exercise proper business judgment in entering into the agreement. They noted that the Boy Scouts board of directors never adopted a resolution approving the agreement, and that decision-making authority was delegated to an executive committee and a handful of people on a bankruptcy task force.

The judge rejected two controversial provisions in the agreement that opponents had highlighted.

One allows the Boy Scouts to back out of a settlement they reached in April with one of their insurers, The Hartford. The Hartford agreed to pay $650 million into the victims fund in exchange for being released from any further obligations. The Boy Scouts sought to withdraw from the agreement after attorneys for abuse claimants, who estimate the liability exposure of BSA insurers in the billions of dollars, maintained that their clients would never support a plan that includes it.

The agreement also included a provision under which the Boy Scouts would pay millions of dollars in legal fees and expenses incurred by law firms representing an ad hoc group called the Coalition of Abused Scouts for Justice. Law firms affiliated with the coalition represent some 63,000 abuse claimants and were among the supporters of the agreement.

Despite the partial approval of the agreement, the Boy Scouts still face a host of objections to the disclosure statement.

Opposing lawyers argue it does not fully inform creditors and leaves too many unanswered questions regarding insurance issues and the treatment of local councils and sponsoring organizations. They also say the proposed voting procedures accompanying the disclosure statement improperly put abuse claimants with valid cases on the same footing with some 60,000 claims presumably barred because of statutes of limitations in various states. 

https://www.npr.org/2021/08/19/1029448274/boy-scouts-bankruptcy-judge-conditional-approval