Brian Coombs, role and qualifications

There is much to discuss regarding Brian Coombs, Ethnos360, and child safety, as evidenced by the 50+ times his name is mentioned in the recent complaint. Let's focus on Brian Coombs' role and qualifications.

According to the complaint, Brian Coombs was the director of child safety for the organization as well as essentially the entire child safety team in Missouri. This role allegedly included being appointed as the contact person when abuse happens or is suspected, conducting investigations, and deciding what actions are necessary in response. In and of itself, this would appear to be an enormous responsibility that would require significant training, but the complaint alleges Coombs has never received professional child safeguarding and response training. My personal opinion is it is unwise for one person to have all of this power and responsibility, but if you're going to choose one person to hold such a role, why would you choose a person who is allegedly wholly unqualified?

Although Brian Coombs even allegedly acknowledged to the survivor's family that he was not qualified to conduct such an investigation, the complaint describes him concluding the actions were "simple curiosity" after conducting fact-finding on his own. It describes his refusal to consider official findings by a forensic interviewer for the Florida Department of Children and Families and his insistence on relying on his own unqualified opinions.

Something I have struggled to understand since this lawsuit was filed, from a corporate perspective, is the lack of curiosity or concern from Ethnos360 leadership as it pertains to Brian Coombs and his role within the organization. I would assume at the very least the grave and heartbreaking allegations that describe a complete failure to effectively conduct his role within the organization would call for an investigation and reconsideration of his responsibilities. From everything I've heard, including their official response to the lawsuit, they haven't once mentioned a desire to ensure their policies and procedures are sound and that Coombs is fulfilling the obligations of his role effectively.

In conclusion, according to the complaint, Brian Coombs was solely in charge of child safety even though he didn't have the training and admitted he wasn't qualified. It alleges he still relied on his own conclusions from his fact-finding investigation while choosing to ignore the official findings of the professionals from the Florida Department of Children and Families. The allegations also describe Ethnos360 leadership's refusal to evaluate the validity of his findings or investigate the reliability and effectiveness of his work. The audacity of an untrained individual believing his findings to be more accurate than a forensic interviewer and Ethnos360 leadership's wholesale acceptance of those conclusions is astounding.