Hi All, The next item on the agenda for the Western Region Roundtable is --- Child Abuse. MANDATORY ACTION REQUIRED! Little League is making a big push to help control/monitor/report/detect/stop Child Abuse. We heard some statistics and as you may have guessed, Child abuse is found in every Youth Sports Organization that exists. Little League is working in conjunction with several agencies and organization to develop a plan and practice to eliminate from LL. Why? Well first, it's the right thing to do. In many cases, the only "normal" family abused kids have is their Little League team. the coaches, players, and volunteers are surrogates for a "normal" family. The most startling statistic was the 1 in 4 girls suffer from abuse, and 1 in 6 boys do. Abuse can range from mental, physical, emotional, or sexual abuse. As a board, nearly every state in the union has a requirement to report abuse if it is discovered. Most CPS organizations are specifically set up to immediately take action on reported cases of abuse. So - Little League has NOW MADE IT MANDATORY that ALL volunteers (including the board), team parents, coaches, managers, etc. have an ANNUAL training in detecting and reporting abuse. I have just sent out a statement from Little League about how to get this FREE certification from USA Baseball. There is a certificate issued when the course is completed. The course is approximately 30 minutes long and can be attended at your leisure on-line. ANY Manager and/or coach bringing a team to the All-Star District Tournament must have this certification in their affidavit book. This is in addition to a Diamond Leader training certificate .(the Diamond Leader Training cert can be from as far back as 3 years). Please work with your leagues to ensure that the Child Abuse training is completed, preferably before the season starts. JP DA WA13/Sorta 5