MLL, per our Safety Plan, maintains a zero-tolerance policy on abusive and unsafe behavior toward any minor under the league’s jurisdiction. This includes toward any minor player, umpire, concession stand worker, or other underage individual by anyone. This policy includes:
- physical abuse
- emotional abuse
- verbal abuse
- bullying
- sexual abuse
- sexual harassment
Anyone who witnesses any such behavior is required to report it to the current Safety Officer or any member of the MLL Board of Directors immediately.
Failure by a U.S. amateur sports organization participating in interstate or international amateur competition to report a suspected case of sex abuse to local or federal law enforcement or to a child-welfare agency designated by the U.S. Justice Department is now subject to criminal penalties under federal law (AKA, Protecting Young Victims from Sexual Abuse and Safe Sport Authorization Act of 2017).
Little League takes its obligations to protect children from such abuse very seriously and, to this end, provide numerous resources for local leagues to share with their communities on its website. MLL shares these resources on the Safety page of its website. Among the documents provided are the following three published by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children:
Additional resources available at:
- Safe to Compete
- USA Baseball and SafeSport Abuse Awareness Online Training
Consistent with the league’s zero tolerance policy, MLL requires that each player (parent) agree to a Player Code of Conduct form during the registration process, acknowledging his/her obligation to exercise appropriate behavior at every game and practice and the consequences for failure to do so.
Likewise, the player’s parent or legal guardian is required to agree to a Parent Code of Conduct during the registration process. An uncompleted, blank copy of the Player Code of Conduct is provided as Appendix 3 and the Parent Code of Conduct as Appendix 4 in the Safety Plan. These agreed to electronic documents or signed documents are maintained by the player’s team manager or the Board of Directors.