Camps in Crisis: ACA's Annual Review of the Camp Crisis Hotline

Medical Issues

Health/Medical Lessons Learned

• Competencies: The competencies of your nursing and medical staff should be evaluated when you are making your hiring decisions. Many health/medical calls to the Hotline concerned common childhood illnesses and afflictions (such as pink eye); however, in many cases, the camp healthcare staff were not familiar with these issues. Camp nursing has its own set of skills and competencies, and most importantly, familiarity with working with children and their common issues is critical. When hiring, you should talk to your applicants about their experience working with children and their familiarity with common childhood diseases and afflictions. The Association of Camp Nurses is an excellent resource: www.acn.org [1].

• Distribution of Medication: A number of callers wanted to discuss procedures for the distribution of prescription and non-prescription medication. Distribution of medication laws vary by state. Often a caller will ask us something such as “Can my counselors distribute medication if they are out on a night hike with campers?” We cannot provide the definitive answer, but we can direct you to your state/local resource. It is important that you know this information before camp starts and have set up appropriate procedures. Helpful resources are listed below.

• Lice: Experts disagree about whether a person infested with lice should be treated (along with examining those around them for infestation and taking other preventative methods) and kept with other people to continue their camp experience, or sent home until all evidence of “nits” are gone. Because the culture of each camp is different, you need to decide if you want to have a “no-nits” or “treat and prevent” policy. There is no single “right” answer. What is important is that you understand the facts about lice (there is a lot of misinformation out there, and the “grossness” factor often overcomes the facts). Because this topic is such a frequent call to the Hotline, ACA has developed a special resource focused solely on lice [2].

Most Referenced Health/Medical Resources

• Association of Camp Nurses: www.acn.org [1]
• Bed Bugs: www.ACAcamps.org/knowledge/health/diseases/bedbugs [3]
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: www.cdc.gov [4]
• Food-Borne Illness: www.fda.gov [5]
• Lice: www.ACAcamps.org/knowledge/health/diseases/lice [2]
• Management and Administration of Medication: www.ACAcamps.org/profmembers/campline/005medication.php [6]
• Preventing Injuries and Illnesses Online Courses from ACA:www.ACAcamps.org/einstitute/healthycamp/ [7]
• State Boards of Nursing : www.healthguideusa.org/state_nursing_boards.htm [8]
• Teen Pregnancy Issues and Support: www.healthywomen.org [9]

Employment Issues

Employment Lessons Learned

• Staff Policies: Be as inclusive as possible in your employment agreements and your personnel policies. Learn from other camps about what they wished they had included in their policies. Here’s a short list of issues camps called about and did not have clear policies regarding:
  • Acceptable/unacceptable personal, physical relationships between adult staff members
  • Acceptable/unacceptable physical contact between staff and campers (for example, are hugs, pats on the back, sitting on laps, etc., acceptable in your camp?)
  • Acceptable/unacceptable topics of discussion between staff and campers
  • Acceptable/unacceptable picture taking and picture posting by staff
  • Time-off activities and expectations of staff when they return to camp after that time off
  • Cell phone and Internet usage by staff
• Termination Procedures: Plan ahead. Many camps have termination policies, but no accompanying procedures. That is, if you terminate an employee, what are your procedures for physically getting them out of camp? Many staff do not have their own transportation. Plan now for what you will do in the future.
•  Background Checks:
  • Result Thresholds: As you hire staff and perform criminal background checks, it is important that you develop your thresholds before you perform any checks. Your organization should sit down and consider what types of past criminal records would be acceptable to you — for each different type of position at your camp. For example, you might find it acceptable that someone applying for an activities director job had a petty theft conviction twenty years ago, but would that be an acceptable background for your bookkeeping position? There are no definitive right-or-wrong answers (except in some states that tell you who cannot work with children), so you need to set your thresholds based on the culture of your camp. It is very important that you work with your legal advisors as you develop these thresholds, as you must comply with hiring laws while you protect the safety of those in your care. Then, it is critical that you be consistent, follow your own thresholds, and make sure not to treat people who are interviewing for the same job differently (e.g., “I like her, so she’ll be fine.”). Only you know your program and what is acceptable.
  • Awaiting Results: If you have submitted a background check for a potential staff member or volunteer and have not received the results by the time the camp season opens— what do you do? If you allow the individual to work with children or vulnerable adults and later the check reveals a criminal history as a sex-offender — what then? What is critically important is that you discuss your background check policies with legal counsel and camp leadership. Make sure your hiring process leaves enough time for you to check results prior to any opportunity for the individual to work with children or vulnerable adults. ACA and many other organizations that serve youth and vulnerable adults are advocating for changes in background check laws that will make the checks more accessible, complete, timely, and affordable. Read more about it at: www.ACAcamps.org/publicpolicy/cbc [10]. 
• Plan for temporary replacements: Prior to the camp season, consider what you will do if a shorter-term staff member (like a nurse who will work for just one week) does not show up at the last minute — or if you have to fire a key staff member (such as the director). What network of ready-to-call volunteers might you call upon at the last minute to assure supervision ratios and the safety of campers?

Resources

• ACA’s Camp Administrator Course: www.ACAcamps.org/einstitute/administrator/ [11]
• Background Check Resources:
  • www.ACAcamps.org/publicpolicy/cbc [10]
  • ACA’s e-Institute Course: www.ACAcamps.org/einstitute/criminalbkgd/ [12]
• Best Practices with International Staff: www.ACAcamps.org/international/practices.php [13]
• Employment Laws — Understand the Employment Laws inYour State: www.law.cornell.edu/topics/Table_Labor.htm [14]
• Staff Contracts: www.ACAcamps.org/members/jobdesc/ [15]
• Staff Hiring and Screening: www.dol.gov [16]

Allegations of Abuse at Home

Resources

• Child Abuse Reporting Telephone Numbers by State: www.childwelfare.gov/pubs/reslist/rl_dsp.cfm?rs_id=5&rate_chno=11-11172 [17]
• In the Trenches [18]
• Mandated Reporter Laws: www.ACAcamps.org/child-healthsafety/abuse/reporting [19]

Allegations of Camper-to-Camper Abuse

Resources

www.cdc.gov/ncipc/dvp/PreventingChildAbuse.htm [20]

• Bullying:
  • www.ACAcamps.org/campmag/0601bullying.php [21]
  • http://www.stopbullying.gov/kids/index.html [22]
• Camper-to-Camper Issues: Do Children Sexually Abuse Other Children?, Stop It Now www.ACAcamps.org/sites/default/files/images/campline/Child%20to%20child%20abuse.pdf [23]
• Preventing Child Sexual Abuse Within Youth Serving Organizations, US Department of Health and Human Services:

Other Situations

Case Studies

Case Study One — Camper Assuming a False Identity

Questions / Lessons Learned

• How can the camp determine the true identity of this child and her parents/guardians, especially when everything has been falsified? Who and what is the director to believe? In this case, the director was considering working with the local police for assistance in determining the identity of the child and to verify that this child wasn’t on a missing persons list somewhere.
• Who should the camper be released to at the end of the session? The camp does not want to release the camper unless they are certain the child is going to her legal parents/guardians. Who can the director believe?
• What could be the cause of this issue? Most likely the cause was the camp’s no-refund, no-substitution policy. In this case, it appears that someone in the extended family found a substitute and asked the child and her cousins to lie by assuming the identity of the originally enrolled camper. Especially in a struggling economy, ask yourself if your refund policy is one that protects your business but also allows some options for families.

Resources

• Crisis Communications — ACA’s Communications Toolkit: www.ACAcamps.org/members/toolkit/crisiscomm [25]
• National Center for Missing and Exploited Children: www.missingkids.com [26]

Case Study Two — Accidental Drowning of a Rental Group Guest

Questions / Lessons Learned

• How can camps control access to watercraft and related equipment? In this case, the safety equipment was locked but the canoes were not. ACA Standard PA-12 addresses controlling access to natural bodies of water, and recommends techniques such as education, posting regulations, and locks/barriers. Although using locks to control access to watercraft may not be necessary in all instances, camps may want to explore how both watercraft and related safety equipment can be locked when not in use.
• What’s the role of signage in communicating safety hazards and what’s the best location for the placement of signs? In this case, signs were clearly posted. However, it’s a good procedure to review waterfront signage and assess if signs need to be replaced, refurbished, or installed in new areas of the camp property.
• How do camps respond to questions from the community and from the media when a drowning occurs? What communications policies and procedures are in place? In this case, the camp director had developed crisis communications procedures and key messages and was able to compare the camp’s communications plan with recommendations from ACA’s Communications Toolkit (available at www.ACAcamps.org/members/toolkit/crisiscomm [25]). Fall is a perfect time ofthe year to review and update your communication plansbased on recent incidents at your camp or based on situationsdescribed in this article.
• What are your camp’s waterfront safety policies and procedures and how are these policies and procedures communicated to user groups that rent your facilities? Take the opportunity to review your user group contract and information packet and consider if changes are needed. Assess any incidents or issues that you’ve experienced with user groups during the past year and update your user group contract information packet accordingly.

Resources

• Aquatics and Waterfront Safety: www.ACAcamps.org/knowledge/program/aquatics-articles [27]
• Crisis Communications — ACA’s Communications Toolkit: www.ACAcamps.org/members/toolkit/crisiscomm [25]

Case Study Three — Suspended Employee (Background Check Not Yet Confirmed) Purchasing on Behalf of the Camp

Questions / Lessons Learned

• How are you communicating deadlines and hiring requirements to staff? Communicating specific requirements and deadlines for background check documentation to all camp staff is an important practice, as it demonstrates the camp’s commitment to ensuring the safety of children, youth, and vulnerable adults. In this case, the camp had established specific background check policies and camp staff were aware of their responsibilities. For more information about developing background check guidelines, see the “Resources” section.
• How do you document supervisory actions? Maintaining documentation of supervisory action (in this case, the suspension and what the employee needed to do before returning to work) is critical. In this situation, there was a discrepancy between what the camp perceived it communicated to the cook and what the cook perceived had been communicated to her. Requiring staff to sign a letter outlining the details of the suspension and indicating that they understand the reason for the suspension and the specific steps necessary to return to regular employment may have reduced the differences in perception that this camp experienced.
• What are your camp’s personnel policies and procedures? If this was your camp, would your personnel policies and procedures require you to provide written documentation to the employee? Are all supervisors at your camps trained in the proper way to document employee contacts? Consider this: If the employee was eventually terminated and filed a wrongful termination claim, what documentation would your camp have to back up your actions?

Resources

• ACA’s Camp Administrator Course: www.ACAcamps.org/einstitute/administrator/ [11]
• Best Practices with International Staff: www.ACAcamps.org/international/practices.php [13]
• Criminal Background Checks for Staff and Volunteers: A Guide to Assist You In Making Sense of the Choices: www.ACAcamps.org/campline/s-2010/criminal-background-checks-staffand [28]-volunteers
• Criminal Background Checks Online Course: www.ACAcamps.org/einstitute/criminalbkgd [29]
• Criminal Background Checks: What are they and how do I get one? (PDF): www.ACAcamps.org/sites/default/files/images/publicpolicy/documents/CBCEdPiece6-09.pdf [30]
• Employment Laws — Understand the Employment Laws in Your State: www.law.cornell.edu/topics/Table_Labor.htm [14]
• Staff Contracts: www.ACAcamps.org/members/jobdesc/ [15]
• Staff Hiring and Screening: www.dol.gov [16]

Case Study Four — Sexual Harassment of a Camper by Other Campers

Questions / Lessons Learned

• What are the immediate needs of the children? The well-being of the victimized child is primary, so having the healthcare staff talk with the child is critical. The crisis team will likely discuss the approach to use when talking with the victim’s parents. The other children involved also need to be talked with (individually) about their knowledge of what happened. The crisis team will need to establish the dialog they want to have with the parents of the other boys involved with agreement on the message. For example, the boys need to be picked up that evening, they will not be allowed back at camp, etc.
• When is the camp a mandated reporter? Whenever there are allegations of sexual misconduct, the camp is required to report it to the authorities. The camp need NOT investigate or make any judgments. The director may want to consider contacting their insurance company as well as their board president, particularly if there is any possibility for media coverage.
• What was the breakdown in their supervision plan? The administrative team will likely need to review their staff supervision plan and figure out how to prevent similar incidents from occurring. In this case, the camp policy of two staff at all times with the campers was overridden when the two cabin staff decided that one of them could cover the cabin alone for an hour while the second staff went to help with the all-camp activity.
• Does the camp have a “crisis team”? This camp did not have a plan for how to deal with an emergency like this one. In the future, they can have a plan that details who is on the crisis response team as well as some key information for likely crisis scenarios.

Resources

• Bullying Resources:
  • www.findyouthinfo.gov/topic_bullying.shtml [31]
  • www.ACAcamps.org/child-health-safety/bullying [32]
• Child Abuse Reporting Numbers by State: www.childwelfare.gov/pubs/reslist/rl_dsp.cfm?rs_id=5&rate_chno=11-11172 [17]
• Crisis Communications — ACA’s Communications Toolkit: www.ACAcamps.org/members/toolkit/crisiscomm [25]
• In the Trenches: www.ACAcamps.org/sites/default/files/images/campmag/In the Trenches When Campers Disclose.pdf [33]
•  Mandated Reporting:
  • www.ACAcamps.org/campline/2009fall-mandatedreporting [34]
  • www.ACAcamps.org/sites/default/files/images/campmag/Camp Mandated Reporting.pdf [35]

Case Study Five — Transgendered Camper Enrolling in an All-Girls Resident Camp

Questions / Lessons Learned

• What is needed to make the camp experience “safe” for the child? One of the first questions usually centers on how to meet the privacy needs of the transgendered child. Physical accommodations need to be considered, such as showers, sleeping arrangements, and changing areas. In this case, the directors felt that they could ask the staff to help generate ideas on how to guard the privacy of the child without making her “special” or different from the other girls. A conversation with the parents will also help the staff understand how the needs of the child are handled at school, with friends, etc. Lastly, the directors wanted to find out if the girl was coming to camp with any of her friends, as they might make good cabin mates.
• Can you discriminate based on sexual identity? Camps need to contact their legal counsel for guidance around their state’s laws and any repercussions if they exclude a child based on sexual identity.
• Are there any special medical needs? In some cases the healthcare staff may need to be informed about any special medications the child might be taking to help with the biological transition process. The staff may also need to know about any emotional needs that the child may have.
• What local resources might they contact? The camp directors felt that they needed to talk with their supervisors (part of a governmental agency) to find out what resources and policies might already be in place. They also had a Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgendered (GLBT) Center not far from their main office. They were going to contact them for resources and training ideas.
• Who needs to know the transgendered status of the child? Since this camp found out early enough, they decided to cover the topic during their staff training so they could role play likely scenarios and conversations that may occur during camp. The directors felt that direct counseling staff would need to know that the child was transgendered. Each camp has to decide who else should know and how best to inform them. For example, should the parents of the girls in her cabin be notified? Should other campers / cabin mates know? Since the girl was only ten-years-old, the other campers may not need to know, but the staff need to be prepared in case privacy is not maintained or the child shares something about her situation.

Resources

• GLBT Education/Training Materials: www.glsen.org/cgi-bin/iowa/all/home/index.html [36]
• On Being Transgendered:
  • www.ACAcamps.org/members/knowledge/target/cm/0311assume [37]
  • www.ACAcamps.org/campline/2009fall-hotline [38] 

Case Study Six — Anonymous E-mail Alleges Sexual Abuse by Staff Member

Questions / Lessons Learned

• How seriously should a camp take unsigned e-mails and what assumptions can you make? This camp was creative in their approach by using technology to help them investigate the allegation. However, they need to use extreme caution.Guessing identity from an e-mail address is not without problems; plus, someone else (other than the rightful owner) could have used that e-mail address. To assume that they had tracked down the right boy could be a mistake.
• Who should be notified? They might want to talk to child protective services to see what they might recommend (if anything), as well as legal counsel, their board president, and their insurance agent. The camp was considering a conversation with the part-time staff person whose name was close to the alleged abuser’s name in the e-mail. Again the camp was urged not to jump to conclusions and to consider carefully what (if anything) might be gained by talking with the staff person.
• What documentation should be done? The director was documenting everything they did as well as saving the original e-mail. If the boy followed through by contacting the police, the camp would have records of their attempts to deal with the anonymous allegation.
• What supervision procedures are in place? We reviewed their staff training around supervision of children and the policies that are in place. The camp’s policy is to always have at least two staff with children and the teacher/chaperone is always with the children when it is a school group.

Resources

• Child Abuse and Protection Articles: www.ACAcamps.org/child-health-safety/child-abuse/articles [39]
• Staff Training: www.ACAcamps.org/campline/s-2001/training-staff-in-child-protection [40] 

Case Study Seven — Camper Reveals Potential HIV Status Due to Date-Rape

Questions / Lessons Learned

• Who should be informed of this situation? The legal age of consent in the state may determine whether the parents/guardians of the girl should be contacted by camp personnel (without the consent of the camper). The local health department may be able to provide additional useful information. Appropriate officials may need to be notified due to the date-rape allegations (due to the camp’s role as a mandated reporter). The camp health care provider should be involved in conversations as well. The insurance provider for the camp could be notified for additional resources.
• How do the camp director and cabin counselors respond to questions/concerns from cabin mates and other staff? ACAStandard HR-17 asks: “Has the camp established policies and trained staff to respond appropriately to socially sensitive issues?” How the counselors respond should be guided by your camp’s philosophy, mission, purpose, and what was covered in staff training.
• Should the camper stay at camp? This might depend on the mental/emotional/physical state of the camper. Any decision should involve the parents, the camper, and health care professionals. In this situation, while the camp director was truly concerned about the camper, the camper interpreted the concern and questions as “harassment” and chose to leave camp on her own.

Resources

• Child Welfare Organizations with Relevant Resources:www.childwelfare.gov/organizations/index.cfm [41]
• Date Rape Resources: www.womensweb.ca/violence/rape/daterape.php [42] 

Case Study Eight — Staff Member Resigns as Allegations of “Sexting” Emerge

Questions / Lessons Learned

• In today’s world of instant news, what information should the camp director share with the camp families and by what method? In this situation, the camp director had been communicating with camp families via e-mail prior to the start of camp. He felt he wanted to immediately send an e-mail stating some basic facts to camp families and camp staff (such as an overview of his staff screening policy and that the incident did not happen at camp or involve a camper). The camp director also wanted to make sure the camp parents knew he was available to talk if they wanted.
• Who else might the camp director contact? In any situation regarding serious allegations such as this, it is always a good idea to contact both the insurance provider and legal counsel for the camp. They might be able to provide additional resources and provide necessary guidance.
• What about the media? Again, in today’s world of instant news, there is a strong potential for this story to be widely read/heard. Make sure your camp staff know who the official spokesperson of camp is so they can direct anyone who asks them about the situation to that individual.
• Do you have a staff policy regarding posting of “camp news” on Facebook or other social networking sites? Camp staff can inadvertently “feed the media” through social networking and other means. What are the key messages you want heard regarding a situation such as this? Having an overall plan of how to deal with crisis prior to any incident is critical.

Resources

• Crisis Communications — ACA’s Communications Toolkit: www.ACAcamps.org/members/toolkit/crisiscomm [25] 

Case Study Nine — Anonymous Camper Misbehavior

Questions / Lessons Learned

• How should the camp debrief this with the cabin group? What should happen with the campers since it is suspected that the culprit is in their midst and the others know who it is but won’t reveal the individual?
• What is your camp’s standard procedure for dealing with camper misconduct? Would your camp call the parents of a camper for a similar behavioral offense (such as graffiti) if they were not totally sure of who the culprit was?
• What is your philosophy or policy/procedure for contacting parents? It is important to apply the procedures fairly and consistently and to stay true to your camp’s philosophy.

Resources