Safer schools issues guidance on furries in school

If you actually are a teacher and cannot see the innate harm in this lovely fluffy subculture then you should not be in post.

I think documents like this seek to dilute the general safeguarding training that is likely to keep kids safe.

It's hard not to conclude that this is the point.

Does the document talk about bestiality as part of this culture? If not, why not? Why do they talk about the 'benefits' of furries for KIDS? I can't honestly see any benefits, only risks. When they're adults they can get into this stuff if they want, not while they're minors.

That animal rape as a 'kink' is anywhere near kids - however remote these people will claim it to be - is so sickening that it makes me want to leave the entire fucking planet.

One of the issues that nobody likes to mention is that sometimes non- consenting animals are involved. This whole scene has a very dark underbelly which is sickening. They label it zoophilic now as everyone knows what bestiality means. Zoophilic furries are a thing.

But teachers in schools are trained in safeguarding. They don't need detailed knowledge of every fetish subculture to be able to safeguard appropriately.

They have proper, accredited safeguarding training based on KCSIE - not random stuff produced by some random organisation highlighting some random subculture.

I doubt most teachers would have time for this and definitely would not have time for a document on every single conceivable subculture a child could or has engaged with online. It would be inappropriate for them to spend time on this because the safeguarding red flags are the same regardless of the subject matter e.g. as PP has indicated, making "friends" who they only know online.

“Not innately sexual” = attractive to an innocent child then puts them on a pathway to be introduced to a sexual fetish later as part of the “Furries Community”.

Firstly can o say I don't understand why anyone wants to dress up as an animal! But it is bizarrely true that some teens seem to want to and it's not to do with sex, they see it as an identity like being gay ... go figure!

At a school with uniform there's an easy fix, strict uniform! Without like my DD's old college was harder, nothing in the code about not wearing a tail and ears, some wore onesies even. Apparently they have a uniform now

I don’t have any kids who “identify as animals”.

There are a few groups of kids in various year groups who are currently into the furry trend. This seems to mostly manifest in fairly harmless ways… Spending breaks and lunch drawing anime style pictures of animal people, outfits with cutesy little anime animal ears on non-uniform days, interest in cosplay/comic cons etc. They don’t think they are animals, they are following a trend.

I’ve dealt with one as a real safeguarding issue and the whole furry thing was incidental. The real issue was that it was a neurodivergent older child who was failing to see that they don’t really know online friends. Some of these were online friends in furry forums, some were just general anime forums, some were from fan fiction websites.

How many children in your school identify as animals/furries?

Have people actually read the guidance?

Its not a “guide about furries for kids”.

It’s guidance for safeguarding staff on how to respond to a situation where they have students who are identifying as “furries” or showing an interest in “furry” subculture. I just read it and personally found it helpful.

There are increasing numbers of students in secondary showing interest in this sort of thing because of TikTok and a big overlap with the ones who are into anime and other more alternative types. Like the article says, a lot of these students are neurodiverse. We have a few in my school and no, they are not identifying as cats and asking for litter boxes. The article seems a sensible assessment of the risks.

I don’t know why people are reading this as a safeguarding organisation exposing kids to furries. It’s an article about the risks associated with a current safeguarding issue.

If true, this is a classic case of a dodgy adult with an agenda trying to push it onto kids. Red flags galore.

No teacher would also discuss the 'benefits' of the furry community with a child without also considering the 'risks'. Jeez the claim is this is somehow linked to Zurich, the insurer.

What kind of insurer only considers benefits and not risks?

I really hope this is satire.

If so, it's really sad that there's any question it could be real. Queer theory has a lot to answer for when it comes to destroying safeguarding for kids.

April Fool? (Clutching at straws)

I seriously doubt 'safer schools' are a genuine safeguarding organisation. I think it's one of those cases of 'identifying as' something that you're actually the opposite of.

This seems sadly common these days.

It's a safeguarding fail to even produce a guide about furries for kids. Age inappropriate - which is something you're not supposed to do quite explicitly stated in Keeping Children Safe in Education the Statutory safeguarding guidance for the UK. So this sounds to me as if it's breaching that Statutory Safeguarding guidance.

However, I don't think there's a single teacher who's so lost control of all reason that they'd actually use this. Apart from anything else, there really isn't the time for this rubbish, teachers are struggling to catch children up in the basics like English and Maths after Covid and the profound underfunding and lack of Maths teachers. Such a deep lack of understanding of children and schools (that it is purporting to be targeted at) that it almost seems deliberate.

As a West coast Scotland dweller I'd love some ferries, even if they are in schools, at this point, any functioning ferry would be a bonus.

that article is a daily mail classic. everyone in it sounds completely and utterly insane

But last night the idea of 'normalising' this 'demented' past-time by providing guidance on how to support 'furries' was condemned as 'madness' by schools watchdog, The Campaign for Real Education.
Chairman Chris McGovern told MailOnline: 'This sounds like complete madness.
'By providing guidance, Safer Schools are legitimising and normalising demented, delusional and deranged behaviour.

the only thing schools need to know about furries is that they should prevent any bullying of pupils based on what they do in their spare time (no shit sherlock) and they should also not tolerate students behaving like animals at school (also no shit)

Indulging their kinks that should say

This link says there is no evidence to support the claim of furries being a sexual thing! This from a safeguarding group giving advice to adults who guide our children ffs... if anyone had spent 10 mins online they'd surely see that adults are grooming children and it's highly sexualised. Kids like the costumes and expect to find like minded kids on these forums and instead they are finding adults who are indulging their kids and encouraging kids to do the same. It has no place in schools at all and it's very concerning that the people advising seem blind to what's going on.

Attention furries. What you do in the privacy of your own home with other consenting adults is up to you. Dress up, role-play, fill your boots, I don’t care. Enjoy! Just leave kids out of it FFS. Stop queering boundaries. Kids shouldn’t even know about furries. What next, guidance on Littles? BDSM?

Confusing title 😬

Why would they even be in schools? But yes, I think children need to be kept away from this adult, sexualised nonsense.

If it’s not a sexual thing why are they at Pride events?

Mumsnet gets a wee mention.

Also:

'One thing important to note is that Furries are not innately sexual. There is a public misconception about the sexualised nature of the Furry Fandom, but it is not the main draw or point of the community. However, as safeguarding professionals, we recognise that the uniquely personal perimeters of Furry culture could potentially create a scenario someone with a sexual interest in children may be able to exploit.'

Here's a link to the relevant guidance. Includes a furry risk assessment.

https://oursaferschools.co.uk/2023/04/24/furries/