Does anyone know how to transfer records for Scouts from one council in another state to his current council in Utah? I got a note from his old Scoutmaster in Idaho saying all the stuff he'd passed off, but no dates etc. And because of a broken family situation, it was difficult to even get that much.
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I think you need to get a verified advancement report from the old council's office. That is the only sure way of having a verified record. The previous troop, if they are keeping their records properly, should have an advancement committee member who is responsiblve for keeping all that stuff up to date in the troop records. If the troop is doing online re-chartering and online advancement with the council (don't know if all councils do this... we here in Clinton Valley Council have this, and it makes it a lot easier), they should be able to print out some sort of report that will make it easier to get the records transfered or shared.
As crass as it sounds, you can't just go by what the boy, parents, or even the old Scoutmaster says when a boy has transferred across councils. You got to go by the official record.
When a boy applies for Eagle, every t needs to be crossed and every i has to be dotted according to what they have on record. If the council does not have a verified record that a rank was earned or the supporting evidence that a merit badge was earned, well, that pretty much means it has to be redone. I have a boy right now who turned 18 in July, had finished all his requirements before 18th b-day, but we haven't had his Board yet because of problems with his paperwork. I just talked with the council yesterday because the boy had told me he had fixed the problems they told him about when he first turned them in and had turned them back in before labor day. Council says that their record states he picked up both the original application and the verified copy, but hadn't turned them back in and that as far as they were concerned, he was good to go from the date he had originally turned them in. So, now I have to find out from the boy where the two sets of applications are... without them, he can't have his Board of Review, and he has less than 30 days left of the 90 from his 18th birthday to have the Board...
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It seems to me the only thing you've learned is that Caesar is a "salad dressing dude."
Cat is absolutely right on all accounts... His problems and concerns have been repeated numerous times in our district/council too.
Over the years I have kept VERY careful records for all the scouts hubby has worked with, and I have a spreadsheet with EVERY single event, and advancement date ever completed... down to the dates of hikes and camping trips... and not just copies of the original merit badge applications, but copies of the merit badges/cards themselves, before those were handed over to the boys and their parents at the different court of honors.
I have kept records for 6... wait, 7 SMs (including hubby) over the last 14 years. Sometimes those copies have saved our local scouts from repeating merit badges. So far WE have not had any problems at the "Eagle" stage with any of the boys we have worked with... (in fact one council secretary told me he loved it when our troops submitted Eagle Applications, cause he knew everything would be in order)... but we had 2 scouts a few years ago whose records were transfered and not all their merit badges were recorded by our council, yet I had all the documentation for those required badges... We finally decided that one month's merit badges and advancements had gotten misplaced before they were officially recorded, because the awards were obviously returned to US... Anyway the new council was able to add those records to their permanent council record after they got copies of our copies, but they had to be verified by our council as legit, cause they were copies...
For the most part, it has been my experience, as a record keeper, that councils are good to work with boys to get stuff accounted, and recorded when they have the documentation... They want these boys to advance. That is why it is important not to wait until you are so close to the 18th b-day mark... These things can be worked out, but it takes some time... I also tell everyone I ever work with to SAVE every little piece of paper they get from troops, districts and councils... EVERYTHING... Especially if it has a date and/and signature on it... it may be important someday at a later date to have.
Our youngest will have his Eagle Court of Honor soon... With mom and dad's death's last spring we got sidetracked on getting his stuff submitted... he will probably be our last one for a while... We don't have any other boys that call this house home that are close... I think that make hubby a little sad...
