1997: Dr. Rice presents 70 cases of camp sexual abuse to the MA legislature.
1998: Bill requiring limited criminal background checks of camp staff passes.
1999: Camp Safety Project officially forms to focus on legislative advocacy, data collection and increasing public awareness.
1990-2000: Camp Safety Project presents over 100 cases of camp sexual abuse to the MA legislature. Those that provide oversight have no knowledge abuse is occurring.
Several bills are introduced but none pass.
Spring, 2000: Despite our data, a bill is passed that allows some camps to be exempt from staff criminal background checks.
Summer, 2000: A MA camp counselor is indicted on 131 counts of child sexual abuse.
Feb., 2003: Legislation containing our initial recommendations is passed, requiring camps to complete criminal background checks on all staff and volunteers, regardless of age.
Dr. Rice, a concerned citizen from Northampton, began researching camp sexual abuse in the mid-1990s. In 1997, he presented 70 cases of sexual abuse in Massachusetts summer camps to the state legislature. In 1998, a bill was passed that required camps to check the criminal background of some of their staff members. Not satisfied with this new law, Dr. Rice set out to advocate for better oversight of camps and started to receive some attention from the media.
Jane Palmer, an anti-violence activist and student at Smith College, read an article about Dr. Rice's quest and called him up to ask if she could help. She received Praxis Funding from Smith to work with Dr. Rice throughout the summer of 1999. The Camp Safety Project was born. Since then, she has volunteered her time updating the website, researching legislation, advocating for camp safety bills, and responding to email inquiries and information requests.
The Camp Safety Project's mission was to strongly urge the Legislature to transfer oversight from the Department of Public Health Division of Community Sanitation to the Office for Child Care Services. Additionally, new legislation was necessary to require that, at a minimum, all staff members be checked for a criminal record (CORI), sexual offender record (SORI) and that camp directors call diverse references of the applicants.
In the fall of 1999, the Project sent out letters to thousands of people throughout Massachusetts who work with children (i.e., social workers, psychiatrists, psychologists, juvenile justice officials, police departments, guidance counselors, day care centers, etc.). From this mailing alone, we received 35 more reports of sexual assaults in MA summer camps. Fourteen of these cases occurred in the 1998 or 1999 seasons, after the aforementioned legislation required criminal checks on some staff.
At this time, camps were required to report any instances of abuse or neglect to Department of Social Services (DSS) and the Local Board of Health. When we received responses that indicated abuse had occurred in camps, we wrote to those camps' local boards of health. We called the Local Boards of Health and they had no knowledge of the abuse. Read more...