Young peoples groups in Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) are extremely dangerous events from a personal safety stand point. ICYPAA events are organized by older members of AA who are and continue to remain Anonymous. You have a hard time running background checks on people who remain anonymous, something that is normally done in choosing a daycare, nanny or house keepers. Unfortunately because of publicity many parents and schools will help to send children and young adults to these events run by older AA members who may have a history of sexual assault or violence that is not known because they hide under the cloak on anonymity that AA provides. You would not hire a daycare, nanny or house keeper to take care of your family if you could not find out about them.
In 2007-2008 a classic example of the stalking and sexual assaults present in Young Peoples Groups in AA was uncovered in the MidTown expose of the Q Group in Washington. The links are still there and can be easily found by a search engine. The sexual perversion of this rogue AA group was especially dangerous to the youth attending AA in their Young Peoples Groups. When the legal implications of what this rogue AA group was doing to the youth under their care became too much, they moved their operations to Tampa Florida and California to the San Diego and San Francisco areas. Washington has calmed down with sexual predators in AA for the time being because of this. Any AA young peoples groups in Florida or California should be looked at carefully to determine their link to MidTown. Remember, you are dealing with a group of older people organizing an event that are Anonymous and could very wellbe tied to the MidTown group or a sexual predator. Care should be taken when sending any of your loved ones to any AA Young Peoples events in Florida or California.
JR HarrisAugust 8, 2011
A troubled childhood is the breeding ground for most adult sexual abuse. What doesn’t he get processed in the past, gets replayed as a toxic narrative in the here-and-now. Some are exploited sexually , but many are wounded in other ways.
Left NA Daytona meetings 3 years ago. Those people are CRAZY! Keep them out of our parks. Especially Sunrise Park in Holly Hill. Man they smoke, cuss deal drugs. They dont care about the kids playing nearby. Glad I am gone.
shit is ridic. Just wanna wipe everybody and anybody’s chance to improve their life, due to a pervert or a mentally ill person, that quite possibly the court hustled off to AA instead of mental health rehabiliation – which the justice system doesnt do very well. Its not like people are getting raped at these events. I think its way to easy to judge or make assumptions. The truth is less than 1% of AA are minors, the avg age is older – but thats why there are YPAA events, so if you wanna stop drinking when your younger you can still have a social life and grow your recovery… kinda shady you are misinforming people with fear. Perhaps youre an untreated alki? Resentful you cant stay sober? What other motive would you have slandering a fellowship of 2 million people that are mostly active, responsible, caring members of society.
one time a girl was raped at great America. does that mean don’t go to great America?
actually im bidding to host icypaa in my city. I’m 22. I’m not old or an older member. ICYPAA is separate from midtown. midtown is a meeting. every aa group is autonomous from another.
In response to really? I advocate for safe, effective addiction recovery programs and admire you for your concern and willingness to help at risk children!
That being said, any organization that works with minors, especially those that “handle vulnerable at risk minors”, should screen their potential handlers by giving them mandatory background checks. This is a basic common sense standard that ensures a level of safety and well-being for the vulnerable. In this day and age, knowing what we know, any organization that deals with minors and does not give background checks and implement responsible safety procedure is IRRESPONSIBLE AND UNACCEPTABLE!
There is no good reason not to have such safety measures in place, especially when dealing with minors!
It is beyond belief that Alcoholics Anonymous Gen. Services voted NOT to put in place any basic safety or security measures at their meetings! They are well aware of all the court mandated repeat offenders, many who are mentally ill with long violent criminal histories, that are being sent to AA/NA meetings by the droves. They are also well aware of countless abuses committed against members by other members at meetings, such as the abuses at the AA MIDTOWN GROUP, which are documented in a Washington Post article in the archives of this website.
These organizations, irresponsibly and actively recruit ever greater numbers of high-risk individuals to their meetings. Organizers lure these high-risk individuals to sit side-by-side with the vulnerable unsuspecting attendees, that naïvely trust these organizations to have some common sense guidelines in place to properly ensure the welfare of those attending.
This couldn’t be further from the truth!
The fact is that these organizations KNOW THE RISKS involved but have DECIDED TO NOT ADMIT KNOWING! They hope that by pretending that they are not aware of the problems, they can avoid any potential legal responsibility or accountability!
This clearly demonstrates that, contrary to what they profess, AA/NA are not prioritizing the well-being of their members. Even most small businesses screen their applicants before hiring them and have some basic safety procedures in place.
Enticing everyone to gather anonymously at organized meetings with such a known high-risk demographic, without any safety or security procedures whatsoever defies all logic! Promoting AA/NA meetings as a “safe environment and atmosphere of recovery” gives a false sense of security and is a dangerous contradiction!
I just spoke to a very reliable insider AA source. Someone was raped at ICCYPAA
SHe called the police and he was arressted.
I have personally been at one YPAA event and it looks like predator’s salad
Bar full of minor’s unsupervised. Scary!!