Safeguarding
How we keep them safe.
We take other people’s children into the field with firearms. That is a privilege extended to us by parents, and it carries obligations that come before every other thing this organization does. This is our youth protection policy, in full, exactly as the board adopted it.
The governing principle
The young person
No hunt, no photograph, no donor, no partner and no schedule is more important than the safety of a participant. Any adult may stop any activity at any time on safety grounds, and will be supported for doing so.
Before an adult is near a child
Screening,
No adult has contact with a participant until this is complete. There is no exception for friends, family, donors or partners.
What every adult goes through
- Minimum age 21.
- A written application including full legal name, date of birth, address history and hunting experience.
- Two references contacted by us, at least one of them not family.
- An interview with the founder, in person or on video.
- A criminal background check through Verified First — national database, county-level searches for every county of residence in the past seven years, and the national sex offender registry and the state registry for every state where they have lived.
- Re-screening every two years, and immediately on any arrest or charge, which the adult must self-report.
- A signed acknowledgement of this policy, renewed annually.
Permanent disqualification
- Any offence involving a child — sexual, exploitation, abuse, neglect or endangerment.
- Any sexual offence against any person.
- Registration on any sex offender registry.
- Any violent felony.
- Any offence that prohibits firearm possession under state or federal law.
- Falsifying or omitting anything material on the application.
In the field
Supervision and
A guardian attends. Every time.
- A parent or legal guardian is present at every activity their child takes part in. This is not waived for convenience, for weather, for distance, or at the guardian’s own request. If the guardian cannot attend, the participant does not attend.
- No adult is ever alone with a participant. At least two approved adults, or one approved adult and the guardian, are within sight or sound at all times. A blind, stand or vehicle holding a participant also holds their guardian or a second approved adult.
- An adult who finds themselves alone with a participant moves immediately back into view of others.
Getting there and staying over
- Participants travel with their own guardian. No adult transports a participant alone, under any circumstances.
- On overnight activities the guardian stays overnight. No adult shares sleeping quarters with a participant who is not their own child, and arrangements go to guardians in writing before the trip.
Firearms
- Every participant completes safety instruction before handling a firearm, and holds the hunter education certification and licenses required for their age in the state where the hunt takes place.
- Firearms stay unloaded and cased or visibly open except at the point of use.
- Ammunition is held by the mentor and issued round by round.
- A participant never handles a loaded firearm without an approved adult within arm’s reach.
- Eye and ear protection at the range, for everyone present.
- Every activity has a named safety officer, designated before it begins.
Alcohol and drugs — zero tolerance
- No adult consumes alcohol, cannabis or any impairing substance during an activity or in the twelve hours before one. This includes camps, lodges and meals attached to a hunt.
- An adult who has done so is removed from the activity immediately and referred to the board.
Contact and images
Nothing happens
Communication
- All communication with a participant is copied to their guardian.
- No private one-to-one messaging, texting, calling or email between an adult and a participant.
- Adults do not connect with participants on personal social media.
Photographs and video
- No image of a participant is captured or published without a media release signed by their guardian.
- Participants are never identified by full name in public material.
- No image discloses a participant’s home, school or a precise hunt location, and location metadata is stripped before publication.
- A guardian may withdraw consent at any time, in writing, and we remove the material from anything we control.
- Adults do not photograph participants on personal devices for personal use.
Grounds for immediate removal
- Any physical contact of a sexual nature, or any sexualised comment, joke or image.
- Any corporal punishment, physical discipline or humiliation.
- Being alone and unobserved with a participant.
- Providing a participant with alcohol, tobacco, vapes, cannabis or any drug.
- Sharing sleeping quarters or bathing facilities with a participant who is not your own child.
- Private communication outside organization channels.
- Handling a firearm while impaired.
- Photographing a participant for personal use.
If something is wrong
Reporting comes
Every state requires suspected child abuse or neglect to be reported, but who must report, and how quickly, varies from state to state. We do not rely on that difference. Range & Keep requires every adult connected to a hunt — mentor, volunteer, staff or director — to report immediately, to the child protection agency in the state where the child lives or where the incident occurred, whatever that state’s minimum duty happens to be. In Texas, our home state, the duty is already universal: any person with reasonable cause must report immediately, licensed professionals within 48 hours, and failing to report is a criminal offence.
1-800-422-4453
Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline — 24 hours, any state. They will route you to the right agency for where the child is.
1-800-252-5400
Texas Abuse Hotline, 24 hours, for hunts in our home state. Online at txabusehotline.org.
Anywhere else, call the national number above or that state’s child protection agency directly. Report there first. Do not wait for permission from anyone in this organization.
Then tell us
- After reporting to the state, notify the founder, so we can act to protect the participant.
- If the concern involves the founder, notify our designated safeguarding contact instead — Elisa Gomez, Co-Founder and Treasurer, 702-807-8512.
What we do not do
- We do not investigate. Deciding whether abuse occurred is the job of the state and law enforcement, not ours.
- We do not interview the child about the allegation.
- We do not warn the person the concern is about.
- We do not delay a report to gather more information.
Protection, and precaution
- No one who reports in good faith faces retaliation or exclusion, whatever the outcome. Retaliation against a reporter is itself grounds for removal.
- Any adult who is the subject of a report is suspended from all contact with participants while the matter is open. Suspension is not a finding. It is a precaution, and it is not optional.
Incidents and injuries
- Any injury, near miss, firearm handling error or safety breach is recorded in writing within 24 hours.
- The guardian is notified the same day.
- Records are kept for seven years, or until the participant turns 21, whichever is later.
- The board reviews every incident report at each meeting.
On the record
Adopted, and
Every adult reads this policy and signs it before their first activity, and again every year. Guardians receive a copy before their child’s first activity. The board reviews it annually and after any incident.
- Adopted
- 29 August 2026, by the Board of DirectorsRevised 31 August 2026 to cover hunts outside Texas. Pending board ratification at the next meeting.
- Next review
- Annually, and after any incident
- Safeguarding contact
- Elisa Gomez, Co-Founder and Treasurer
702-807-8512 - Full document
- Download the PDF
Includes the adult acknowledgement, guardian consent and incident report forms.
If any of this looks thin to you, say so.
We would rather be told we have missed something than find out the hard way. Write to info@rangeandkeep.com.