Camp Standards and Accreditation

Posted By: Kelly Marston

Who makes sure a camp is run safely? Are you a licensed camp?  Who licenses summer camps?  The truth is that in most states, including California, do not have any oversight beyond the health department's visit. Unless, of course they are accredited by the American Camp Association (ACA), the national organization of camp professionals dedicated to defining the most important best practices of quality camp programs.

This is an elective program that is rigorous and one that the best camps in the country undergo. The ACA provides best practices that have been gathered from thousands of member camps over 100 year and has defined industry and government-recognized standards for summer camps.

So, what does that mean to campers and their families? 

In my opinion, everything!  The safety and well-being of every camper at Plantation is always John and my first priority.  Being an accredited camp means all aspects of our camp -- our program, business, and food service, and staff training -- have been evaluated by independent professionals. 

As a parent, that means that you have the ACA's assurance that we are running camp to the highest standards.  The ACA website's Parent Home where you can learn more.  You know that we meet or exceed industry standards for safety, training, camper supervision, to name a few.

As an "ACA accredited" summer camp, it means that Plantation is run according to the policies, procedures, and practices that have been accepted as the best in the industry.  We have regular inspections of the site and have outside professionals review our camp practices, our last one was just this past summer in 2009.

If it seems daunting to have someone come in and look over your shoulder, it is a bit.  But, then again when you are caring for someones children that only seems reasonable to me. The scrutiny of accreditation is an important part of every quality camp program.  I know that we are in good hands as this is John's 16th year overseeing Plantation's accreditation and we have always gotten 100%!