Boy Scouts Files for Bankruptcy

The Boy Scouts of America has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy amid a growing list of sexual abuse lawsuits and declining membership numbers.

On February 18, the Boy Scouts of America announced bankruptcy due in large part to liabilities related to hundreds of sexual abuse lawsuits and rapidly falling membership rates. All lawsuits and civil litigation have been suspended because of the bankruptcy filing.

Court documents released last year showed the nonprofit group believed nearly 8,000 former leaders were involved in sexually abusing children in the last 72 years. The decades of abuse mirror that of the sex abuse scandals involving the Catholic church and U.S. Gymnastics team.

Membership for the Boy Scouts has been steadily declining for the last seven years, as executive leadership changes and responses to sexual abuse allegations potentially contributing to less boys enrolling in Boy Scouts programs. Across the organization’s three main programs, there were nearly 600,000 fewer kids enrolled in 2018 than in 2012.