Still Asleep at the Wheel: A Further Examination of Gender and Safeguarding in Schools - Policy Exchange

To add:

@GlovedhandsCecilia I'm sorry to read that you had a difficult experience as a teenager, and it's great that you found a counsellor who helped you unpick it. I would hope that the counsellor decided not to keep it a secret that you were underage and being exploited but instead had made a note in the safeguarding system at school and that appropriate decisions had been taken by the adults that are responsible for safeguarding to make sure you got the wraparound support you needed. In theory, all of that could have been via your counsellor, without you realising it was in place. There will of course have been some children who were lucky that they found a responsible adult who could deal with everything themselves, but history is full of far too many examples where this wasn't the case. That's why safeguarding laws had to come in.

Eh? Safeguarding is there for a reason. Parents have parental responsibility. If schools think parents would react badly to knowing something about their child in a way that would put the child at risk of harm, they should inform Children's Services.

They either think the child is at risk of harm (from the parents) or they don't. It really is that simple. They don't get to keep secrets because they decide it's in the best interest of the child.

The only hole in the process here is that if a child is gender questioning, this should be a safeguarding matter by default. Not because the child is at risk from the parents harming them (although of course they might be**... in which case Children's Services should be informed) but because they may enter a pathway towards permanent physical harm e.g. they may believe that they need to chop off body parts when they become 18.

** For example, parents may source medical interventions privately, which even the NHS now thinks are a bad idea for children, such as puberty blockers or cross-sex hormones.

Notably the GLP have posted advice on how to respond to the KCSIE guidance - https://goodlawproject.org/good-law-project-warns-draft-schools-guidance-could-encourage-unlawful-discrimination/

Key to this chat:

• They say schools should make case-by-case “best interests” decisions, not follow hard rules against social transition.
• They oppose a strong presumption that parents should be told, arguing this can be unsafe for some pupils.
• Overall, they frame the draft as risking unlawful discrimination under the Equality Act if schools follow it too rigidly.

I will not trust anyone who encourages secrets and lies between children and parents. They have motives, they must, otherwise why.

It is recognised that children who are sexually inappropriate may be victims of predatory adults or older children. I think I remember correctly that the children referred tor the Tavistock were significantly more likely to have a parent (carer?) who was a sex offender.

Thank you. I have genuinely gone to a huge effort to remind everyone that this is nothing to do with trans children and everything to do with privacy safety and dignity for girls (and boys). I hope that has come through.

I'm afraid I may have requested the wrong post be removed. I have sent a correction request.

SSSIS, I've read your posts here and the news articles, you have actually displayed a great deal of sympathy and compassion towards the trans pupil, and repeatedly asserted that their dignity, privacy and safety matters as well.

EDIT to remove second part as the malicious false accusation has been removed and apologies provided

That sounds very confusing and uncomfortable for you as a 5/6 year old.

Depressingly I've dealt with numerous children in Primary schools who have sexually assaulted other children. And in one instance a nursery.
In the vast majority of those cases the children were victims of assault themselves, often too young to recognise the abuse or to articulate it and of course below the age of criminal responsibility. The children were seen as victims and the adults went to great lengths to ensure via therapy that their understanding of boundaries, autonomy and inappropriate touching was addressed. In a small number of cases several boys went on to become teenage sex offenders.

That's why the statutory safeguarding framework is so important with the multi disciplinary approach of experts being able to identify complex issues. It stops individuals with an agenda being able to influence difficult decision making.

Edited to remove my comments having seen your apology and the removal of your smear against another poster.

Yes, the parents of the student, but no one else is owed anything.

That said, not all parents will appreciate the news that their child is potentially queer.

Thank you.

SSSS, I have also requested the post be removed.

I retract my statement. I erred and do not accuse you personally of campaigning against any trans child.

What about the fact that gender confusion in children seems to often co-exist with mental health problems, anxiety and neurodivergence.

Is it not worth flagging to parents on those grounds?

The school's actions when I was 5 weren't about educating about personal boundaries but punishing perceived sexual activity and deviance.

The sex realist arguments against integrating trans children in school infer a significant predatory intent.

I don't believe every parent of students is owed any notification about either situation.

I am absolutely not campaigning against trans pupils and I am offended you have implied such.

please correct the record.

Your comparative point is not relevant to the current situation and frankly.

You kissed a student. That was not appropriate behaviour at all. But it has no bearing on the current situation here in the UK in relation to students with gender identities.

I know that girls under 16 can have an abortion without parents being informed so obviously there are some instances of things where parents would very much like to be informed but they don’t have to be.

I’m not sure whether there’s a list of things parents do have to be informed about, or a list of things they don’t need to be informed about that ‘child thinks they are trans’ can be considered against.

I imagine a large part of school and systems' actions around trans students is focused on preserving the privacy of students and the prevention of massed angry adults keen on stalking, hurling abuse and other threats at a minor.

Yup, sounds like par for the course for the trans activists.

Why would all the parents wished to have been notified? Was it a trend?

What is the comparison that you are trying to make again?

I understand. I never said I believed no parents should have been told about it.

I said "I imagine all the parents would have wished to be notified that a boy was kissing other boys in class."