Safeguarding re transgenderism discussion thread

Valancy, they are in my child's school. I shared an image of one of the leads on here previously who goes into schools.

It was removed, but relevant, because when it comes to children and safeguarding there should be no masquerading.

That transgender trend article on Diversity Role Models made depressing reading. I see them highly praised and often recommended on the PSHE teachers' forum I'm on. Luckily the school I teach in hasn't had anyone in like that. It reminded me I urgently need to make an appt to do discuss this with DD's school

Well, I think 'the price of freedom is eternal vigiliance', if it helps. Things are always going back and forth. With any luck, there should be more and more checks and balances on safeguarding introduced into legislation and governmance, but yes, there are some worrying slippages about.

@ScrimshawTheSecond

Hi, thanks for the link.

It’s grim. Everything is going backwards.

Yes rodgmum.

How did lobby groups become s so powerful in education ?

Hi, ThinEnd, thread on that here: www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3611569-Is-NSPCC-school-guidance-for-kids-re-sexual-abuse-shifting-the-Overton-Window-Need-expert-advise-to-break-this-down

Very worrying that safeguarding is being totally ignored and dismantled in these groups

Why would this be ?

Why ?

@ScrimshawTheSecond

3. Changing guidelines on abuse to say that it was only wrong if it made a child 'uncomfortable', thus blurring the lines..

What was the guideline before suggesting that level of comfort was a key marker?

Agreed - not good.

Thanks justcly that’s really useful. I had to email the school about a specific question and within the email asked them to confirm exactly when they are going to change her name back to her legal name. If I’m fobbed off, I’ll be using your suggestions.

In the same email, I also included the link to Marcus Evans’ recent article on the whole GI issue as well as the link to the BBC article where the Tavistock specifically says that they do not recommend social transition before a child/adolescent is seen for treatment. The fact that some schools are basing their policies on lobby groups rather than medical advice is mind boggling.

www.bbc.com/news/health-49020371

quillette.com/author/marcus-evans/

@rodgmum

In Scotland, parental responsibilities and rights, or PRRs, are given to the parents of a child in order that they can be involved in the life of, and take steps to care for and look after the child. These rights and responsibilities are not absolute, and must always be considered alongside the welfare and best interests of the child. They are set out in sections 1 and 2 of the Children (Scotland) Act 1995.

Section 1 of the Act states that a parent with parental rights and responsibilities in respect of a child has the responsibility:

(a) to safeguard and promote the child's health, development and welfare;

(b) to provide the child with direction and guidance;

(c) to maintain personal relations and direct contact with the child on a regular basis if the child is not living with the parent; and

(d) to act as the child's legal representative.

I would say that (d) covers changes of name, gender etc., since you are in effect changing the child's legal status. It's all a little more woolly in Scotland, because of the clause about the welfare of the child coming first, but the act itself still confers rights and responsibilities on the parent (and only removable by court order).

I would be tempted to send the school a letter, headed "Notice Ahead of Action" giving them a deadline (say 14 days) to correct your child's records or you will instruct a solicitor. I can't say for sure you would win a civil action, but it is actionable.

Another possibility is the GDPR. I'm not an expert on this, but under the GDPR organisations have a legal responsibility to ensure that all electronic data they hold is correct. It can't be correct if it is under the wrong name. So you could threaten to report them to the Office of the Information Commissioner. There are huge fines for GDPR breaches, so this may be the route to take.

Advice in general:
Don't be afraid to issue a Notice Ahead of Action. Send it to the Chair of Governors, not the Head Teacher.
Look for a legal solution rather than depending on the safeguarding framework. In my experience schools think they own safeguarding and tend to ignore parents who challenge them on it.

I started this thread last week: www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3794753-Lets-talk-about-grooming-the-psychological-kind because I got a strike for a post which talked about grooming which I think was misinterpreted.

Anyway, it didn't really go anywhere but there are some interesting posts. I think grooming - at an institutional level as well as an individual one - is central to overlooking safeguarding

Dropping this in as no time to today adequately talk about kind, shy, socially awkward ‘queer’ stepdaughter who has been introduced to the idea of an elective, cosmetic double mastectomy at a time when she hates her newly developing pubertal body and the male attention it receives.

Here’s Ben (GNC Centric) talking to Benjamin (Boyce) about her own experiences with grooming in the online trans sphere.
m.youtube.com/watch?v=QAMar22S0ck

13-25 it is very common if not the norm.

I wonder if this reflects the increasing tendency to treat young adults like teenagers or even children?

On reflection, there are a number of other adults with huge concerns about safeguarding who are openly raising it, not just women's groups.

With safeguarding, schools are usually advised to inform parents when they make a referral to Social Services for physical abuse (note, not every type of abuse). Many teachers find it challenging to tell parents they've reported them, but they do it because they work in partnership with parents. Solutions to protect children and make their lives better rest with parents and professionals working together
All the evidence shows that children removed from their parents do very poorly which is why the standard for removing children / parental responsibility is so high and requires the courts. It defies belief that these groups tell schools to remove parental responsibility / rights with no questions. Tell teachers that they can keep confidentiality in relation to gender non conformity when teachers are told always to share information.
At first I thought these groups inappropriately imposed adult views of confidentiality / parental alienation on children. But as this has continued I am now of the belief that this is a planned and deliberate attempt to remove very vulnerable children from the influence and support of parents / families. These groups operate openly in defiance of "Keeping Children Safe in Education" and safeguarding guidance and to date, it is only women's groups and the LGB Alliance that are challenging this.

Including services that were single sex that now include transpeople without completing proper impact assessments or taking into account the affect this will have on their service users.

I'm so sorry to hear that your child has ROGD. The treatment of this by schools is counter to every other school safeguarding protocol.

simultaneously we hear underage girls are being raped at school something like one a week in the UK

Sadly, it is 1 per school DAY: notfineinschool.org.uk/sexual-assault

Oh, if you do find something, yes, please do fling it at me!

@rodgmum

But the inalienability of your parental rights is not devolved. Parental rights can still only be removed by court order (an adoption order is classed as a court order for transference of parental rights).

I'll dig around and try to find an official document you can throw at them.

Just on the LGBT Youth Scotland guidance for schools... (www.lgbtyouth.org.uk/media/1344/supporting-transgender-young-people.pdf) it is endorsed by 16 Scottish Councils. LGBTY Scotland originally claimed it was also endorsed by the Scottish Government and it took the threat of a court case before they removed the endorsement from the guide

www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/lgbt-campaign-group-u-turn-12876161

The guidelines are currently being written following what have been described as “valid concerns” by Shirley-Anne Somerville: news.gov.scot/speeches-and-briefings/statement-on-gender-recognition

However, the concerns seem to be focused around single sex spaces, which I agree are of great concern, but they neglect to cover the issue of positive affirmation in schools.

Not that you would know that any concerns were raised, as the guidelines are still promoted on the LGBTY Scotland website and a press release has a quote from the Scottish Govt saying:

“The guidance produced by LGBT Youth Scotland, in conjunction with the Scottish Trans Alliance, has not been withdrawn and remains available... The guidance is already being used in schools and education authorities across Scotland as it provides practical advice to support them to respond positively to meet the needs of their pupils. It is one of a number of tools which help education authorities and schools to prevent discrimination of pupils.”

www.lgbtyouth.org.uk/news/2019/an-update-on-our-guidance-for-schools/

A bit of a mixed message from the Scottish Govt.

LGBT Youth Scotland also want children under the age of 16 to be able to obtain a GRC with parental permission:

“Further, transgender young people are aware of their gender identity and begin living in their acquired gender far earlier than the age of 16. We recommend implementing provision which would enable parents and carers to give consent for a child or young person to receive a GRC under the age of 16.”

Link: data.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/committeeevidence.svc/evidencedocument/women-and-equalities-committee/transgender-equality/written/19582.pdf

Their former CEO, James Rennie, is currently serving time for his role as one of the ringleaders of Scotland’s largest peodephilia networks. He was CEO of LGBT Youth Scotland at the time and the Scottish Govt never carried out any sort of safeguarding investigation following his conviction to ascertain whether his activities had any influence on policy developed over the period of his tenure.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-15790605

My personal view is that child safeguarding comes very low on the list of their priorities and schools should not get anywhere near them.

Yes, justcly that’s a good point, and thanks for highlighting it. I’m in Scotland and I’ve tried to find the equivalent parental responsibilities definition (the Children’s Act is devolved), bu it seems more woolly up here - am possibly not looking in the right places.

Once of my big concerns with my daughter’s school is that they formally changed her name on all the systems despite us specifically saying that we did not give permission. She was 13 at the time. At the beginning of November, I was assured by the Deputy Head that her name would be changed back, but 2.5 months later, nothing has happened. I chased it up at the beginning of last week, but not heard anything back.

We used to have Children's art classes, and 16 year olds used to be able to sign up for Adult Education classes.
This sounds irrelevant? The reason these activities stopped was because of the new Safeguarding measures and concern over the need for DBS checks.

If 16 year olds can't be taught Spanish with those over 18. Then why are 13 year olds in the same support group for issues around sexuality as 25 year olds?
Why are LGBT support groups operating unlike every other group dealing with under 18s?

I teach my kid not to lie so I'm not having a teacher teach my kid to lie

I think this is probably the safest thing to say right now.

Becoming yet another adult that lies to the child and tries to tell them what they see isnt really what they see leaves that child with no one. A child with no one is in even more danger.

I will not be complicit.

Thanks for all you are doing.

Thankyou for this Janeskettle, I am so sorry that you and others have been put in this position.