Jul 10
1
A volunteer in the Big Brothers Big Sisters program has been accused of molesting an 8 year old boy he met through the Centre County, Pennsylvania program. As a former chief executive of a Big Brothers Big Sisters affiliate in Texas, the risk of an incident like this happening to one of our kids often kept me up at night. Anyone who works in the youth services field, or quite frankly in any helping field, runs the risk of someone getting hurt. You do everything you can to help ensure that risk is minimized. What you also need to be ready for is the media in the event that something potentially harmful does happen.
When a reporter calls your office, or ambushes you for a sensational story, you must be prepared. As awful as it may seem, you really should rehearse for that type of situation long before it ever happens. You will be caught by surprise – and the last thing you want to do is say “no comment.” You have seen bad examples of this many times on television. You can’t help but think someone looks guilty of wrongdoing when they run from a TV camera or refuse to comment.
Anytime I was in front of a camera for any reason, I felt a little nervous. It can be intimidating when you don’t do it often. But when a TV camera is in your face because someone is alleging abuse on your watch, it is devastating and gut-wrenching. What the community needs, the board needs, the staff needs and the alleged victim needs, is a leader who is concerned, confident, helpful and determined. Look straight into that camera and tell them that this allegation is very alarming to your organization, that you are very concerned for the victim and the family and that you have very comprehensive safety procedures in place. Also stress that your organization will cooperate fully in the investigation so that justice will be served.
And then remember: whatever you say will be edited in a way that is likely contrary to the way you actually said it.
