California youth organizations are preparing for the busy summer season, getting ready to launch summer camps, programs, sports, and activities for kids.
As you onboard your summer hires and volunteers, don’t forget that California laws require mandated reporter training for volunteers and employees of organizations that offer youth services or hire youth workers.
CA AB 506 Requires Training for Youth Serving Organizations
California’s AB 506 was put in place to protect youth involved in sports, scouting, and other recreational activities where volunteers play a large role.
Under AB 506, youth-serving organizations are required to train volunteers, administrators, and employees. AB 506 was the first law to tie an organization’s insurance coverage to training compliance.
What is a youth-serving organization?
Any non-profit or for-profit organization that provides services and activities to minors (under the age of 18). That includes:
- Recreational or competitive sporting organizations
- Sports coaching or camps
- Summer camp programs
- Youth programs at art museums, science centers, or other educational institutions
- School-based camps and after-school programs
- Swim schools and lessons
- Trampoline parks, laser tag arenas, mini golf courses, and more
Explore volunteer training courses in the Mandated Reporter Training course catalog.
CA AB 1963 Requires Training for Businesses that Hire Youth
California’s AB 1963 set training requirements for businesses that hire youth workers.
AB 1963 added new professionals to the list of mandated reporters in California: human resources employees and supervisors at businesses that employ teens.
Under AB 1963, businesses with five or more employees that hire teens must provide mandated reporter training to:
- Human resources employee: employees designated to accept complaints of misconduct as required by the Fair Employment and Housing Act.
- Supervisors: adults whose duties require direct contact with and supervision of minors in the performance of the minors’ duties in the workplace are required to report suspected or known sexual abuse of minors.
Many of California’s youth-serving organizations are impacted by both AB 506 and AB 1963. For example, a trampoline park business that provides services to youth, like kids’ birthday parties, might also hire teen workers. A recreational swimming pool might hire teen lifeguards for the summer and also provide kids’ swimming lessons or youth swim team programs.
If you are an organization in California, it’s safe to assume that you need to provide mandated reporter training for any adult in your organization who comes into contact with children or teens, whether in a paid or volunteer capacity.
Manage Training for Your Team
The Mandated Reporter Training platform helps organizations launch and manage their training programs. Built with organizations in mind, the Mandated Reporter Training dashboard makes it easy for organization admins to invite employees and volunteers to train, assign training to different teams, track training progress, and access training reports.
Register for an organization account, and you can explore the dashboard and its features to see how easy it can be to launch and manage your training program.
