AIBU to volunteer at Cubs camp to support my AUDHD son?

When I was a leader, we would invite 1 parent helper for each six
They would always be "in charge" of a different six to their children, so they weren't stepping on their child's toes
It worked well for children with health issues. Comfort if needed, but free to do stuff on their own

Irrelevant.

You will need a DBS with scouts. DH has had a total of 6 different DBS all within a two year period because you can't use a DBS with a different organisation.

Scouts will not allow anyone overnight on camp without one.

Our group will allow parents to one to one. Especially at that age. In fact with some it's actively preferred as they aren't ready to go without a parent and the leaders don't have the ability to cover the care needed. However the point is about building independence so it would involve a discussion about needs and whether it's in the best interests of that child (or whether it's about parental anxiety) - and to have a long term strategy for that to work towards.

It is pretty normal for parents to become assistant leaders in that position, so you attend group nights and also camps 'in case of emergency' but would be grouped with children that are not your own child as much as possible.

An exception might be that you could share a 2-man tent with your own child on camp if he was really going to struggle sleeping in a group tent for a medical reason and doing that allowed him to access the camp at all - but generally the idea would be to try the group tent for him first rather than defaulting to that.

You'd actually be a leader then though, so you'd have to do the full scouting onboarding etc.

I have a DBS as I work in a school

They aren't transferable, sadly. Despite that being the idea when they moved to DBS from CRB. Many people have 2, 3, or even 4 for each of the different things they do.

You would also need to do - at a minimum the Safety and Safeguarding training too.

To answer your question - I don't think any of us can say. As pps have said, it will depend on both the number of Leaders and the skills and experience they have between them. It will also depend on the severity of need and how your ds reacts (which, as he hasn't been before, will, at best, be an educated guess).

You need to have the conversation with the Volunteers at your own son's pack. Some will be extremely appreciative and relieved at your offer, others will know of so many examples where it doesn't work well with parents there, and will know of many, many examples of youngsters really flourishing beyond the parents' wildest dreams when they go on camp.

How far away is the camp ? How realistic would it be for you to be on stand-by if needed, but to let him try on his own, first ?

Oh, and 3 nights is a fab length for a cub. Remember it won't be the first camp for all the older cubs, and also many of the 8 yr olds will have been on camp - or at least sleepovers - as Beavers.

Yanbu

I presume you're trying to reassure the OP? From a leadership perspective our unit would very much welcome a parent coming to have this kind of conversation with us. Sure we've taken Cubs on camp with us before but we're all unique, so it's a different dynamic each time we go on camp with different Cubs.
Some of our leaders have a good few years experience, for others it's their first camp. Whilst all of our leaders are parents, none of them work with primary aged children in their day jobs, so to describe our leaders as very experienced it would definitely be a stretch.
OP, I would recommend messaging the leaders and asking if you can chat your concerns over at the beginning or end of a session. You will need a Scouting DBS but as you already have one in your day job it should come through quickly.
In our unit we have parents who aren't able to commit to regularly helping at sessions but come on every camp and do roles such as cooking, prepping kit etc. It's one less thing for the Leaders to think about so is very much appreciated. Have a chat with them and see where it takes you.

@Floralscent I became a Beavers volunteer for this reason when DD started. I went to the weekly sessions to help
out and to Beaver Camp

I'm surprised but how little you've mentioned about how your Son feels about going to camp. The only thing you've said is that he's very excited. The rest of your comments are about how you're worried and you're concerned, not how he feels.

If he goes and is all excited and has a wobble the very experienced leaders (who no doubt have taken dozens of shy, cautious, homesick, anxious children of varying abilities to camp before) will do a cracking job of reassuring him, helping him and teaching him resilience.

You don't need to be there for him. You only need to be there for you.

Have a chat with the leaders.

Sometimes what you’re suggesting is helpful, sometimes it’s really not and if the child isn’t ready to do camp then they’re not ready to do camp yet and that’s ok too. Or part of the event is the right amount.

You’ll need a scout safeguarding check and to complete some training so have the conversation sooner rather than later.

Great idea. Chat to Cub leader.

I’ve done this, i was a section assistant and came on camp with my child who has SEN. It worked fab, no issues and reassurance for him. The nature of volunteers at scouts means there’s loads of parent helpers

You do have to get a Scout specific DBS but it’s very possible to get it through your existing leaders.

I did try volunteering at my son’s Scout group for a bit (he has ADHD) but it wasn’t really helpful to him. Kind of made social struggles worse if anything because if you did intervene it was a bit like “oh X has just got his Mum fighting his battles”, and if you didn’t the feeling was “oh even X’s Mum thinks this is Ok so I’ll carry on”.

Scouts are a pain, I work in a school and still have to have one for scouts. You don't need to be an leader to have one, all our parents require one when we run our annual family camp.

If you have one from work then it should go through fairly quickly.

I would ask if you can go, we have had parents go (I've even gone with my own kids). It's really helpful if their is a child with additional needs, sometimes we would ask for a 1to1. I would think its probably a good idea for your child's first camp, a lot of cubs will have done beavers where they only do 1 or 2 nights to get them used to sleeping away from home. So as it's their first camp you maybe going this time to help and letting them go on their own next time maybe a good idea.

I have a DBS through school and on update service, but have to have separate DBS for scout group.

Our Beavers and Cubs group asks for parent helpers at camp. There are a few going on ours next week.

My friend who is helping next week at camp just had to show her DBS from her NHS role and that was fine.

You'd need a DBS to do an overnight activity as a volunteer and possibly a basic level of safeguarding. Volunteering as a parent during the day is different. I would just meet the leaders beforehand to discuss your concerns

You need to talk to your sons Cub leader.

(We would bite your arm off if you wanted to be a semi regular helper, or be a Trustee, and do camps etc. Its just whether you can do it in time. )

I used to to be a regular parent volunteer with Beavers and then Cubs as my DS moved up and they always had 1-2 parents volunteering to stay overnight (but not in the same tent as their DC). As long as you have a DBS it was ok.

My friend’s DS has autism and her DH has always stayed with him at camps since Beavers (now in Scouts) as he would simply be unable to attend otherwise due to his needs. Again, he needed a DBS/registered volunteer and pitched in to help with the running of the camp too.

Scout Associations rules is a Scout DBS to stay overnight, with membership number.

Helping during the day is different.

3 nights seems like a very long time for an 8 year old!

I went and served the breakfast when my child was on cub camp, don't think I had to to be DBS checked. They asked for volunteers for various things during the camp so several parents were there.

So I’m a guide leader so similar world. I think there’s no issue with volunteering, it’s often how we get new volunteers in the first place. If you’re going to do it make sure that you tell them with plenty of time so they can plan you in to their planning. I don’t know for cubs but for us we would probably ask you to do the basic level safeguarding training.

Also we always have the rule “there’s no mums here at guide camp only leaders”. So when we have kids running up screaming mum we are like what do you need so it’s not automatically “mum” who helps. So as long as your wee boy will still listen to the other leaders and you don’t contradict them I’m sure it’ll be great!

Also you might have already done this but we would do an adjustment plan for any child that needs it and might need extra help. So you could maybe go through that with them rather volunteering if that made you more comfortable.