Little League® is for everyone, and all children and families should be able to fully enjoy their Little League experience on and off the field. To help bring that fun, community-based opportunity to children, it is paramount that we keep the safety and well-being of our Little Leaguers® at the forefront of all that we do.
Little League International was the first youth sports organization to establish a Child Protection Program, and more than 25 years since this program has been initiated, Little League has been committed to providing new, easy-to-implement opportunities to enhance educational efforts, strengthen background check and training programs, and provide families and parents with the information needed to help keep their players safe.
Starting with the 2024 season, there are two key enhancements to our Child Protection Program to help in our continued evolution and commitment to player safety.
Enhanced Background Checks
- Little League International will begin utilizing a more robust product that features a higher level of protection from its partner, J.D. Palatine (JDP). The enhanced screening includes the JDP National Criminal Search, plus Developed names, and collects data from more than 685 million criminal records, sex offender registries in 50 states, OFAC, FBI Terrorist List, Proprietary Offender Data, Department of Public Safety, Administrative Office of the Courts, Department of Corrections, Federal/State/Local wanted fugitive lists, as well as searches of the SafeSport Centralized Disciplinary Database and Little League International Ineligible/Suspended List.
- Identifiers are used, such as full names, developed names, birth dates, and social security number (SSN) to identify matches.
- As a reminder, all volunteers with regular, repetitive access to players, including District Administrators and Assistant District Administrators, are required to complete the volunteer application and the background check process.
Required Abuse Awareness Training for Adults
- In 2018, the “Protecting Young Victims from Sexual Abuse and SafeSport Authorization Act of 2017” became Federal law. As part of SafeSport, abuse awareness training has been highly encouraged for participants and volunteers in the Little League program.
- Beginning in 2024, this training will now be a required part of the annual Little League Volunteer Application, along with the annual background check. The training must be completed before any individual can assume any duties for the current season, including District Administrators and Assistant District Administrators.
- It is important that all volunteers in a league complete the training on an annual basis. Even though it may be a training an individual has completed in the past, it is important to keep the information that is taught through Abuse Awareness Training fresh in everyone’s mind. The more individuals involved in a league that have the information that Abuse Awareness Training provides, the better.
- USA Baseball’s BASE Abuse Awareness Training is a FREE online training that is SafeSport-compliant. This course can be completed in approximately 30 minutes online, producing a certificate of completion that you will share with the league to verify you have completed the training.
