[Ansteorra] Underage Participation In The SCA

[Rose]

"In the SCA we have always done things we did not want to have to reduce or eliminate our liabilities. We have weapon and armor standards that we hope reduce our liabilities, waivers we sign and rules we follow because all we hope that doing so will reduce our liabilities. These rules we follow we hope make sense in a risk verses cost way, that is the root of risk management.  With that in mind i say the following.

"It is now apparent that having people underage participation in the SCA accounts for over 90% of all of our liabilities in the SCA."

This is not apparent, at all. It may have been true before we updated our policies, but it is no longer true now. We now follow standard procedures that mirror those at other organizations, which protect all of us from these kinds of lawsuits.

"This asks the first question: Does under age participation and / or their parents provide enough revenue to the SCA to cover those expenses or is every one else having to make up the difference?"

The same could have been asked when a chivalric fighter's insurance company sued the SCA. The answer? Because we are *one* organization. Don't like it? Bow out and start your own child-free Society.

"Personally, I don't see how with the SCA charging half price with family maximums at calendar events and family rates on memberships how those underage participants and their families can possibly be covering those costs."

What costs? The costs incurred because we didn't bother to follow the standard legal minimums for safety? Maybe we should lay that error at the feet of our legal advisors, or the BoD, or the specific Kingdom where this occured, instead of levying the children for these costs. Or maybe we should just bear this as a family should, and move on.

"That means those of us who are not underage and who don't have underage members in our families are covering the costs incurred by having those underage participants in the SCA. Is that fair?"

Yes, absolutely. You see, those of us who are not fighters and who don't have fighters in our families are covering the costs incurred by having fighters in the SCA.

"For instance when you ask "Why are membership dues so high?" a large part of the answer is now "We all have to pay more, so underage people and their families can play""

Last year, we paid less than $2,500 last year, out of our $1,193,438.98 budget. These new policies in no way make our membership dues 'so high'. And considering that we have about 11,000 family members each month in 2011, yes, I do believe that those costs are covered, with more than a bit of cash left over for fighters' liability.

"So an interesting question would be "How much less in cost and how many fewer regulations would we have if we went adult only?" And, "How much more should we charge for underage participants to cover the costs involved in continuing to serve them?" Or "Is it OK to everyone that we all have to pay more so we can have underage participants?""

They're even more interesting questions if applied to fighters.

"I understand this will offend a lot of people and i apologize for that but these are the questions faced in the "mundane world" we live in every day by all sorts of organizations."

I'm not offended. I'm actually amused. The fact is that we lacked basic safeguards and were sued. We now have standard safeguards, and are fairly wel-insulated, as are the Boy Scouts, Girls Scouts, and other similiar organizations. Do you see them fielding lawsuits left and right? Nope. I think we're alright.

Also, your assumption that all families with children take advantage of these activities is strange. Personally, only one of my three children has ever been to a children's activity. (Northkeep's recent WinterKingdom event, which was amazing.) Despite her lack of participation in these activities, the same child has frequently served at feasts and has even painted several charters. Her service, to date, far outweighs the liability that you seem to believe is caused by her participation.

In reality, our most dangerous activities are all martial, but I would not want to be in an SCA without them. I don't mind paying my dues so that *everyone* is covered, fighters, artisans, and children alike.


Lady Rose the Obnoxious
Mother of three.

 

 
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Ars longa, vita brevis, occasio praeceps, experimentum periculosum, iudicium difficile. ~Hippocrates