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Teaching Kids to Prevent Abuse: Children’s Teams Up With Schools
on Virtual Child Abuse Prevention Lessons
April 21, 2021
The staff at the CHIPS Center has adapted their child sexual abuse prevention program to a virtual format in order to continue to serve local schools. Photo courtesy Children’s of Alabama.
By Emily Williams-Robertshaw
April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month.
It’s an issue that is closer to home than anyone wants to think and, according to the Children’s Hospital Intervention and Prevention Services Center at Children’s of Alabama, the pandemic may be making it worse.
Research shows that increased stress levels among parents is a significant predictor for physical abuse and child neglect. With COVID-19 resulting in financial and health-related stress, an abusive parent may place the brunt of their aggression on their children, who have been at home more often than in a typical school year.
The CHIPS center has served as an outpatient clinic where children who have experienced abuse and their families could seek refuge since 1995. But their work goes beyond their clinic walls.
When it comes to identifying the characteristics that signify abuse, teachers and fellow classmates often are the sources who point to potential problems. Sometimes that abuse is of a sexual nature.
In 2016, the Legislature passed Erin’s Law, which requires schools to provide age-appropriate lessons to educate kids on child sexual abuse prevention.
“We’ve been working with Homewood City Schools since Erin’s Law was passed,” said Deb Schneider, director of the CHIPS Center. “Homewood was our first school that we went into after the law was passed.”
Schneider has a long history of working with many schools in the area, especially as students have been found to be in distress.
Homewood City Schools Prevention and Development Coordinator Carissa Anthony notes that the CHIPS team always has been professional when it came to teaching kids hard subjects in an interactive and appropriate way.
“Their lessons are always so interactive and well-received by the students,” Anthony said. “They are well-received by teachers, and I have even heard from some parents who said that the lessons sparked great conversations at home.”
Adapting During a Pandemic
When the pandemic hit, the CHIPS staff was unable to visit schools and provide their essential lessons. They had to adapt.
“Our IT department helped us do a Zoom presentation to a school in Pickens County, and then they saw the need for us to be able to keep doing this in the future,” Schneider said.
So, the staff reached out to Anthony and began working on a standard for virtual presentations.
“I could not be more pleased, especially at the elementary level,” Anthony said. “You know, in a normal classroom setting, only one or two kids will respond, but all of the kids were getting involved and every child was having their voice heard.”
The students responded very well, with the CHIPS representatives allowing them to interact through the screen with hand signals, Anthony said. The CHIPS team also is well versed in making the subject approachable in a way that isn’t overly frightening to kids.
“It can be scary,” Anthony said. “It can be two things: it can be so scary and it can be silly, because you are talking about body parts and it’s funny. It elicits strong emotions either way.”
Anthony has sat in on multiple lessons and found that the format has allowed teachers to take on a more active role in the lesson. “This gives teachers the same language that the CHIPS representatives use,” Anthony said. “Now they have a common way of talking about this.”
It’s not an easy subject to discuss in the home, Schneider said. “Parents can’t just say something to their child one time and think that they have understood it,” Schneider said.
“We have an entire facility here at Children’s that is dedicated to this issue and treating children who are victims of abuse,” Schneider said.
It’s a hard reality, but a reality, nonetheless, that child abuse is not alien or uncommon.
“The best thing we can do for children is help them understand that that is wrong, number one; and that that adult is the one that’s wrong,” Anthony said. “The child is never wrong. To understand that and to equip them with a plan of what they can do if someone tries to hurt them in some way or someone does hurt them in some way, how they can find their voice and get help,” is the mission, she said.
Taking the Work Home
For Anthony, helping the CHIPS team is something that goes beyond her desk.
Her daughters have been getting involved, helping put together packets to be sent to schools in preparation for CHIPS lessons.
“It started out because I needed help for Homewood schools,” Anthony said. “I knew Deb and her team were overrun and I knew I needed kits to be put together for Homewood, so I wanted to help.
“If they are spending time putting kits together, they aren’t spending that time helping children. So, we can take this on.”
Anthony’s Berry Middle School seventh grader, Morgan, and Spain Park freshman, Maddie, have set up an assembly line at home to help get the job done. It’s also a bit nostalgic for her daughters.
They didn’t get the same lessons in elementary school, but Anthony used to read them the books the facility provided for her Homewood lessons.
“They would say, ‘We remember you reading these books to us,” and it grew from there and sparked good conversations with them,” Anthony said. “They have both had situations where their friends told them some things and they had to help them. They knew what to do from us reading those little books and talking.”
Arkansas Legislature Passes Bill Banning Planned Parenthood From Providing Sex Ed Programs to Schools
April 21, 2021
On Monday, the Arkansas state Senate passed a measure prohibiting Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers from providing sex ed programs to public schools.
The bill now heads to Republican Governor Asa Hutchinson’s desk. His office has not yet indicated if he will sign it either way, as of this writing, and declined to comment to the AP.
The Associated Press reports that the Senate voted 27-5 to prohibit schools from entering into transactions with any entity that performs, induces, or provides abortions.
“If the entity does that, I think the state of Arkansas has no business in any form…contracting with them to do anything,” said Republican Sen. Bob Ballinger, one of the bill’s sponsors.
Many Americans may not realize that Planned Parenthood, the largest abortion provider in the United States, also has extensive influence in the public school system by way of providing sexual education curricula heavily favoring their ideological agenda.
The abortion giant uses the controversial Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE), which introduces children to a wide variety of sexual identities, lifestyles, acts, fetishes, as well as perspectives on gender identity heavily promoting gender theory (gender fluidity).
Earlier this year, the deeply culturally conservative state passed a near-total ban on abortion, which Hutchinson signed. Arkansas’ legislature has also passed a number of bills preserving conservative values, such as a ban on the enforcement of federal gun laws, a ban on biological males participating in transgender sports, and a ban on gender identity-affirming treatments for minors (which Hutchinson vetoed despite the legislature having the votes to override).
Planned Parenthood was certainly not pleased with the legislation, which would prohibit them from entering into contracts with Arkansas’ public schools.
“Our students’ basic education should not be jeopardized because of the Legislature’s misguided political agenda,” Gloria Pedro, the regional manager on public policy and organizing for Arkansas and Oklahoma for Planned Parenthood Great Plains Votes, according to AP.
Many might argue that “basic education” need not involve highly ideological and X-rated sexual content produced by a for-profit provider of abortion and that there is a wealth of alternate educational material to choose from elsewhere, of course.
Transphobic or a victory for common sense? Alabama bans ‘biological males’ from playing on female school sports teams
25 Apr, 2021 12:56
Alabama has adopted a new law that bars public schools from allowing transgender girls to participate in female sports, rekindling debate about the controversial measure, which has been embraced by other conservative states.
The bill, HB 391, states that public K-12 schools “may never allow a biological male to participate on a female team.” Sponsored by Republican state Rep. Scott Stadthagen, the law passed both houses of the legislature without difficulty before being signed off by Governor Kay Ivey on Friday.
In a statement, Stadthagen thanked the governor for “protecting the rights of Alabama’s female athletes,” adding that “standing up for what is right is not always easy, but it is always the right thing to do.”
Proponents of the legislation argue that transgender girls have physiological advantages in competition, making their participation in female sports unfair. State lawmakers who backed the bill said it was necessary to maintain the “integrity” of female athletic programs.
But critics insisted that the law was exclusionary and addresses a problem that doesn’t exist. LGBTQ advocacy group Human Rights Campaign said the law was “politically motivated” and “designed to discriminate against an already vulnerable population.”
The group’s Alabama state director, Carmarion D. Harvey-Anderson, claimed the bill was based on “lies and misinformation,” adding that transgender youth have been playing sports “consistent with their gender identity for years without incident on the collegiate and professional level.” The rule will result in expensive taxpayer-funded legal battles and harm the state’s reputation, the organization predicted.
Reactions were also split on social media. Many seemed to view the law as uncontroversial and necessary. One commenter argued that those who were upset over the rule didn’t understand that biological males have attributes that give them an unfair edge over female athletes.
Girls have a right to “fair competition,” and transgender athletes should form their own teams, said another supporter of the measure.
“There are no restrictions. Everyone can play sports according to their actual genders. No restrictions,” wrote one person who seemed frustrated over the controversy.
But there were plenty of others who saw the issue differently. Twitter users accused Republicans of spreading “hate and fear,” with one commenter wondering if the GOP was holding a contest to see “who can alienate the most voters.”
Republican legislators across the country have introduced bills that would restrict transgender girls from playing on female sports teams. Last month, Mississippi’s Republican governor, Jonathon Tate Reeves, signed a bill that bars trans athletes from competing on girls’ or women’s sports teams. Idaho last year became the first state to institute such restrictions, but the law is currently being challenged in court.
At the same time, there are also states that have rejected the move. On Thursday, Kansas’ Democratic governor, Laura Kelly, vetoed a similar bill, claiming it would harm children.
The Republican governors of North and South Dakota have also shot down legislation that bars transgender youth from joining female sports teams.
