What Would You Do?

Tuesday, May 5th, 2015

Imagine this scenario: You are a leader for a youth event, and three young people ask you for a ride home because none of the parents can pick them up. You know you shouldn’t be alone with a youth in the car, but there are three youth, not just one. Plus, you can’t reach any of the parents by telephone. You drop each one at his or her own house. Was this the right thing to do? Click to find out.

The answer is NO. First, thank you for remembering that Safe Gatherings’ policies state that there must be either two adults with a youth, or two youth with an adult. Although it seems acceptable because there were three young people and one adult in the car, eventually you were alone with one youth until you dropped that youth off at his or her house.

How could you have handled the situation? The safest thing to do in this situation is to ask another adult to accompany you for the dropoffs.

Because you couldn’t reach the parents, you should probably have waited to hear from them before you take further action.

But sometimes you are stuck in a situation where you cannot get hold of anyone. If you are in a situation with no alternative to being alone with a child while taking him or her home, as a last resort you could have the child talk to his or her parent or a sibling via your cell phone, so they are communicating with someone the entire ride home.

Clear communication prior to all events is essential so all parents and children know the policies.

Have you found yourself in a similar situation? If so, how did you handle it? Let us know by emailing us.