Okay, here's the deal. My youngest son has a Blue & Gold dinner this Thurs. evening, and should be getting a couple of badges as well. I have a policy of not going inside LDS buildings anymore, but when it comes to special events in my children's lives, I make an exception because I go to support THEM.
Anyway.
My son started scouting in his dad's ward, but I eventually agreed to take him to scouting in our local ward. I just found out that since his ward records haven't been transferred to Mytown USA, son won't get his badges. I'm getting some paperwork sent to me that apparantly has to be filled out and shuffled around so that he can be worthy to......oops, I mean, so that he can actually participate and get his badge.
See, that's what I hate about BSA and the LDS church. I don't go to the ward here and I don't take my kids to church; their records have been with their dad's ward and there hasn't been an issue up to now. My question(s): is this LDS hoop-jumping absolutely necessary for my son to be able to get his badges? Does BSA step back on this one and allow an LDS troop sponsored by its local ward to handle procedure this way? Or is there any rule or regulation in BSA that supercedes the LDS model? I don't see the need to go through all that just so my son can get his freakin' badges and enjoy the evening with his peers. Are they (LDS Inc)really, legally able to insist on this records transfer business within their scouting troops? And if not, then could I inform them of that and have grounds to refuse?
I'm just SO DONE with Mormon hoop-jumping and paper pushing, and this to me seems just as bogus as the worthiness interview BS and all the empty busy-work and running on the hamster wheel in the cage. So. Any suggestions?

I'm not super familiar with Scouts, just a little, but that seems to be only an LDS thing - I don't see how it could be necessary, but then I have no rational explanation for anything the LDS church does.

Anyway, transfer him to a local non-LDS sponsored troop. A lot of them meet at local schools and stuff. It will be a much better experience all around! Good luck to you and your son.

Call the local BSA Council office and ask.

I'll bet it's just a mormon B.S. lie. They let boys come earn badges that are not even members. They are probably trying to pass off a church policy, as a B.S.A. policy.

Find out if it's B.S., and if it is call them on it and they'll back down.

If your son truly wants to be a scout and you have primary custody and no longer consider yourself LDS, try contacting the local council for BSA and finding a troop and getting the records transferred that way. If the council steps in, the church can't stall or stonewall you.

A new troop would be connected with a local church--Catholic, Methodist, Presbyterian, etc., but membership at that particular church is not necessary. My own sons did Weebelos and Cubs down the street at a Methodist church (we're Catholic) with their best buds. The troops tend to be made of a mixture of church members and kids who live in the area neighborhood or go to the same school. And those churches tend to follow the BSA rules a whole lot more closely--getting to Eagle through them is no cake walk. It would definitely be worked for and earned.

Just let your ex know this works best for you from a convenience standpoint and leave it at that.

Also, FYI: I can tell you from the point of view from someone who works on staff in a Catholic church--because of the scandals involving priests, the rules for safetly and for adults interacting with youth with their church sponsored troops are even tougher than the BSA rules--no slipshod Mormon fly-by-night stuff on outings, hikes and camping trips. Volunteers have to have had criminal background checks (yes, even the parents) and training in recognizing, responding to and reporting inappropriate adult/youth interaction as well as safety training for the specific activity. I would not be surprised at all if other churches had some of the same protections in place--none of them have the attitude that a priesthood holder can do no wrong.

It has to do with what is known at the "Charter." If a boy is under a particular troops charter, but attends another troop/pack, he must eventually register his name under the new charter in order to advance. This is not TSCC requiring this - it's the BSAA procedure. Your son is in cub scouts, which is subsidary to the larger BSA organization by the way (Blue and Gold is cubs). Since you sons record was in the dad's ward, he was registered in that cub scout pack. In other words, that's where his church record was and his cub scout pack registration was with that ward/pack.

Now he's been going to your ward and pack (a different registered cub pack unit). The paper work is simply a matter of transferring his old cub pack record (dad's ward/pack) into your current ward/pack.

Trust me, TSCC cubing/scouting is as about as loose/liberal as it gets, but they must at least abide by established cub/boy scout procedures.

In other words, its all good. It is necessary.

Steven, she was saying that his "Ward" records had to be transferred.

Wouldn't only his scout registration need transferred?

Isn't there a difference in their eyes between the Church records, and the scout records?

leave her sons ward record with the dad, but then charter the boy in her ward. He does not have to be a member of her ward. It would be similar to a non-member joining an LDS troop, where no ward record would be kept.

I think the issue is funding. TSCC allocates a certain amount of funding per boy per record, and therefore the boys don't pay monthly dues. It depends on the Bishop, but I would imagine her Bishop has requested the boy's membership record so that he can get the associated alloted amount, plus make his numbers look better.

because there is no "paperwork" that she would have to complete for TSCC. This is a matter of a simple electronic transfer, making her the Head of house (non-member) and her son as a member of record under her name. There is no paperwork for that.

All you need (according to scouting headquarters) is his Cub Scout Manual (you say Blue and Gold so it's Cubs, not Scouts) and everything qualifying him for advancement and the achievement badges is signed off in that book. All your Cubmaster has to do is call the former Cubmaster and verify his advancement.

If they say you need to do more, they're full of crap.

All of the above discussion is why I suggested a different troop (or pack--don't know your son's age) at a different church. Same charter, yes, but no Morg. And chances are, he would know boys from his school and neighborhood. Ask your son.
The transfer would have to include all of his accomplishments and advancements--in writing.

Call your Council Office, which is not affiliated with the church. Tell them what has happened, and be specific that you really don't want anything to do with the LDS church. I don't know if this is National, but in our area, BSA is anxious to get as many boys out of Mormon Scouts as possible. They will be anxious to help.

A few fallacies---Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts CAN be chartered by a church, but they don't have to be. My son's cub scout pack was chartered by his school's PTO. My husband's Cub Scout Pack is through our church (he started it when my son moved on to Boy Scouts).

A few years ago, our LDS church had boy scouts who were sexually molested by a mother/ RN who was doing camp physicals. The LDS church settled with all the families out of court. Yeah, I'd think twice about keeping my son in an LDS troop/pack.

Thanks everyone, for the feedback, I appreciate it! From what I've read it sounds like it is probably a troop charter that I would be looking at, since the issue came up with my son's badges and being able to advance. I'll know for sure when it shows up in the mail, which should be pretty soon here. Having said that, I still intend to look into it further and check with our council, as been suggested. As long as no one hassles me about anything and the focus is on the boys and their achievements, I can deal with it. And yes, I have definitely thought of getting my son out of the LDS troop and into a real BSA troop. It's his father (and TSCC of course) who wants him to advance in scouting; as long as son enjoys it and wants to continue with it, that's fine. But if I find out that there's any unnecessary hassle that is NOT BSA procedure, or any church interference, I'll pull him out immediately. Again, thanks for all the helpful input!

i don't think any BSA structure above the pack is involved in which cub scout is awarded a badge. I think this is an LDS issue, not a BSA issue.

Scouting can be wonderful for boys and young men.
However, when selecting a troop be sure to check the sex offender registeries for the name of the adult leaders. I had to pull my son from a troop because I came to know that their new troop leader was a pedophyle. I contacted the council and their decision was that since he had not been convicted, they could not block him. Strange that a non-gay pedophyle could serve but a non-pedophyle gay cannot.

Technically the pack can not get the awards for your boy if he is not registered as part of the pack. In the morg scouting variants, the ward pays for the fee for each boy at recharter time. If the former ward payed his fee for the year (including scouting insurance and fees for council) then you can transfer the registration for $1 with a form, and you don't have to pay the whole fee again. If the old ward did not add him to the charter then someone has to pay the fee so he will be registered for the year.

Things are getting computerized and it may not be possible for the ward to get the award because he is not in the pack software, etc. The software makes printouts for the scout shop, etc. I know they tried to implement this in my council in Texas a couple of times, but they could never get it to work fully, because units like morg units were not organized enough to use the rank advancement software.

My suggestion is to find a traditional pack. It will cost your family a little more, and you will probably need to help with the pack in some way and be more involved in the life of your child, but that is a good thing, something morg scouting really lacks.

(Former unit commissioner for morg and traditional packs, troops, teams, and crews -- and forced retired because of atheism).



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/25/2011 06:52PM by luminouswatcher.