May 06, 2006

Abuse Reports Prompt Scrutiny Of Foreign Exchange Host Families

COLUMBIA (MO)
TheKansasCityChannel.com

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- Teachers, coaches and other volunteers know that working with children first requires a criminal background check to ferret out potential abusers. Now, so will the families who host the nearly 30,000 foreign exchange students who arrive in this country each year.

Under new rules adopted by the State Department Thursday in response to several recent high-profile cases of abuse by host parents, exchange students will also receive information on how to identify and report sexual abuse. ...

And in LaBelle, Fla., a retired Roman Catholic priest who also worked as an exchange program coordinator continued to host foreign high school students on his own after two programs cut ties with him in 2002 after learning of multiple sex abuse investigations.

Accusations against ex-priest William Romero ultimately led to several monetary settlements from civil lawsuits filed by his victims.

Posted by kshaw at May 6, 2006 08:08 AM