Youth group doesn't travel safely...?

Question

My oldest son has just crossed over into the 'youth group' years and went on his first youth group overnight last night. Now I had heard from friend's kids about how unsafe the van trip up was... but I decided to give them the benefit of the doubt... particularly because my son (12yrs) even *asked* if everyone wore seatbelts on the trips (he knows his mama) and was told they now *did* by the youth minister.

They not only didn't wear seatbelts... they were laying all over the seats/floor, climbing over seats and turned around backwards. They kept telling my son he didn't have to wear his belt if he didn't want to... *that is illegal* at his age and at many of theirs!  The youth minister sat right next to my son (another adult drove)... no seat belt. When the other teens encourged my son not to wear his belt the youth minister said it was 'ok' if my son did.  (So nice that he allowed him to follow the law.)

Here (Arkansas) they legally must wear a belt if they are under 15 yrs... the kids in my son's class (so, his age) were not. Front seat riders must all wear belts... they did not.

I am *not* letting this rest... I'm just deciding how far and where to take it. I plan to talk to the youth minister first tonight... but I understand others have had this conversation with him and clearly nothing has changed. I wonder if I should bring this up to our church's elders... I mean, shouldn't someone *hired* to look after the teens do it *legally*? <sigh> I hate confrontation... but I won't put my son in that van again unless I have some serious assurances that this is not going to happen again!

Any thoughts on what I should say/do and who I should take this to?

? · Accepted Answer

It's obvious your youth minister doesn't care about your children's safety; I would go directly to the church elders. Incidentally, not only is this an unsafe practice, but 15-passenger vans have been proven to be unsafe when driven by inexperienced drivers; they are very prone to rollovers. I would recommend the elders look seriously at replacing this van with an equal-capacity Multi-Function School Activity Bus, which is much safer. I would also recommend you look at www.nhtsa.gov and click on 15-passenger vans.

David W. · Answer

You're a wise woman!  Talking to the youth minister is the first step, but if that hasn't worked, get some other parents involved, and the elders or church council.  The church could get into serious trouble if any students were injured or killed as a result of this negligence.  Make enough noise and they'll have to listen to you.

Finally, if that doesn't work, you may have to change churches--and be sure the church understands why.

Anonymous · Answer

I would take it up with the Youth pastor first.  You are right, he was hired to look after them and that includes making sure they are following ALL laws while they are with him.  Would he let them write graffiti while they were with him?  Would he let someone without a license drive?  Would he let them do drugs?  Granted the penalty for the other things is harsher, but a broken law is a broken law.  He should be showing them that ALL laws are important!  Let him know that if you ever hear about any thing like this again you will take it up with the church board.

B · Answer

Collect a whole bunch of pictures of kids splattered all over the ground in car wrecks because they didn't wear their seatbelts, and makeup a slideshow to show him. Seriously, it'd probably work.

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Youth group doesn't travel safely...?

4 Answers