SafeSport is supposed to protect athletes. Its shortcomings leave them at risk of sexual abuse.

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Two years ago, soccer players from across the country courageously came forward to share their personal stories of sexual abuse and the flaws in the systems that all too often failed to protect them. Since then, U.S. Soccer and our members have overhauled our approach to keeping abusers out of soccer.

But our actions alone are not enough. Dangerous flaws still exist in the protocols and processes used by the U.S. Center for SafeSport, the organization created by Congress to address sexual abuse of minors and athletes in Olympic sports.

SafeSport is the mechanism that U.S. Soccer and other national governing bodies are required to use to keep bad actors out of sport – but the flaws in SafeSport’s processes put players of all ages at risk. Just as Congress created SafeSport, we need Congress to address its flaws.

SafeSport is an essential, valued partner in our shared mission to keep athletes safe. We are advocating for change so we can eliminate the barriers that SafeSport’s processes create to providing safe, healthy environments for athletes.

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Sexual predators fall through cracks in the system

In our experience, SafeSport’s shortcomings can allow sexual predators to fall through the cracks and remain in sport. In one of the most troubling cases, SafeSport found that a coach engaged in sexual misconduct with a minor athlete, only to later vacate its decision based on procedural issues and lift all restrictions on the coach’s participation.

Even worse, SafeSport has maintained exclusive jurisdiction in this case, not allowing U.S. Soccer to investigate or to take action to protect players. Decisions like these leave athletes vulnerable to future abuse.

When widespread allegations of misconduct in women’s professional soccer came to light, U.S. Soccer commissioned former U.S. Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates to conduct a thorough independent investigation into what had gone wrong and what needed to be done to fix it. Yates found that significant changes need to be made to SafeSport’s processes for it to be effective in keeping athletes safe.

A year later, SafeSport has still failed to issue a permanent decision regarding two of the most prominent coaches highlighted in Yates’ report. If it were up to U.S. Soccer, these coaches would have already been removed from our sport given the extensive evidence of their abusive behavior. However, only SafeSport has the jurisdiction to make these decisions, and as a result, U.S. Soccer is unable to do the right thing to keep athletes safe.

That is why we need Congress to act – and to do so quickly. Every day that passes, more athletes are at risk.

In July, more than 100 current and former soccer players signed a letter to Congress urging them to act. SafeSport must evolve to meet its commendable objectives – and that evolution can be accomplished only through legislation.

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More reforms are needed to protect athletes

That is why U.S. Soccer has met with members of Congress to recommend specific changes to SafeSport’s protocols to better protect athletes of all ages. These reforms are aimed at addressing:

• Increased information sharing. SafeSport does not share information about the allegations it receives, its investigative process nor any findings it makes, leaving national governing bodies unable to institute appropriate safety measures.
• Ability to protect our athletes. Upon learning of allegations of sexual abuse or misconduct, governing organizations are not permitted to take necessary measures to protect participants if SafeSport is already exercising jurisdiction.
• Clear resolution of cases. SafeSport’s use of administrative closure – whereby SafeSport closes a matter without any findings and prohibits any sharing of information or further investigation by others – allows bad actors back into the sport, where they can continue abusive behavior.
• A victim-centric appeals process. SafeSport’s appeals process gives individuals who are found guilty of abuse the right to an entirely new fact-finding process. That forces victims who were brave enough to participate in an investigation to go through the process again, and if they choose not to do so, SafeSport forces national governing bodies to let bad actors back into their sport.

Questions have been raised about whether SafeSport has adequate resources or if the organization should be subject to another layer of oversight. While additional funding and more oversight might be helpful, those alone would not be enough. Either one (or both) must be coupled with concrete reforms to SafeSport’s processes. Otherwise, we are not going to get to the heart of the problem.

U.S. Soccer has engaged with SafeSport directly to discuss our concerns but has not had success in convincing them that change is necessary. Therefore, we need our elected officials to keep pushing forward urgently with legislation to evolve SafeSport.

We hope SafeSport will come to the table with U.S. Soccer, other national governing bodies and Congress to keep athletes of all ages safe from abuse.

Cindy Parlow Cone is president of the U.S. Soccer Federation.