Advice: schools socially transitioning children without parental knowledge or consent.

[Libby55]

Hi,

The school I work in is socially transitioning children by changing their names and pronouns without informing parents. Adults working in school are supposed to keep this a secret when communicating with parents. I believe this is a safeguarding issue and that the school is harming children. This is something I know little about and I'm asking for help because I'm looking for an organisation that specifically campaigns against schools harming children in this way. My colleagues share my concerns but are afraid to raise their concerns. My union seems to have adopted gender identity politics. I have to do something: I can see children being harmed. If any of you know of a teacher's group that is lobbying against the practice of socially transitioning children without parents' knowledge or consent, please let me know. I would like to get involved.

I'm not convinced that is a likely outcome unless the child came up against a whole chain of social services staff who are gender critical to the point of being willing to ignore the risk in this context

Ideology klaxon.

But I'm pretty sure Steph won't see it.

This thread is very informative on so many levels. When visitors from Twitter join the discussion it is very enlightening, but welcome as I do like to hear both sides.

This discussion just highlights to me that the T should be separate from LGB. Coming out as lesbian or gay is not in any way shape or form the same as a child stating they now believe they are the opposite sex.

I think @Libby55 you are doing the right thing. Just because everyone else at your school is captured and ignoring basic safeguarding doesn't mean you are in the wrong.
Being a lone voice does not mean you are in the wrong, but it will mean it is harder for you.

@nolongersurprised

After all, if there are a few hundred thousand trans adults why do few trans children?

Surely this question should be expressed the other way around?

70% of referrals are now for girls wanting to present as male.

So - where are all of the adult transmen? If the numbers are static and not due to a trend/social contagion, why isn’t there a 4000% increase in adult, middle-aged women who now wish to identify as male?

^^ this absolutely! I've yet to see anyone answer this most logical question. Come on, some of our knowledgeable posters on all things trans must have the answer. No?

I haven't read all the thread but there are some great posts and advice here.

The NEU guidance does need to be challenged by its members. SSAUK is happy to help put concerned teachers in contact with each other. We have talked to the NEU before and we are happy to continue trying.

Anyone can also whistleblow to the DfE if they are concerned about a school. Again, SSAUK can help with this.

The form to whistleblow is here: form.education.gov.uk/service/Contact_the_Department_for_Education?fbclid=IwAR3vqxuHwjRFy6ioLxVgPaBkHZG7VM1Crird7rtlJxHkS_zTPfGy9fpUjSM

@Libby55 and @dyslek and any other worried teachers, please PM me or get in touch via the SSAUK website: safeschoolsallianceuk.net

Given all that, the small numbers involved, the likelihood of adolescent treatment even occurring and the absolutely undisputed fact that there are abusive parents out there, I think schools would be neglectful and playing fast and loose with the safety of their pupils if they had a blanket policy of always disclosing their support for a child's sense of self to their parents. Of course in many cases it won't be a problem but, the safeguarding risk of always doing so is in my opinion huge and one schools can't afford to dismiss even at the behest of pressure from the Safe Schools Alliance of Transgender Trend.

Besides the fact that you clearly haven't bothered reading the comments explaining how safeguarding works, this is an odd angle to take, Steph751.

Until now the argument has been that children who identify as trans fall outside of all established safeguarding rules in support of the narrative that this is claimed not to be a safeguarding issue.*

But you seem to suggest that these are too few children to matter. No point bothering with normal safeguarding, because the numbers are small.

I fail to understand this mindset. All children are precious. All children deserve to be protected. It doesn't matter if a safeguarding issue affects one child or a hundred, it doesn't matter what the issue is, teachers will always strive to safeguard each and every one of them.

How people who argue that children who identify as trans fall outside of normal safeguarding frameworks (and thus shouldn't be protected like all other children) can view themselves as the righteous ones just does not compute for me.

*Lots of us have provided plenty of counter arguments in this thread. To help you understand why a child coming out as trans at school can represent (and very often is) a safeguarding issue, please read them.

Good to hear that SSA will support teachers in schools 2fallsagain
What's worrying about the NEU guidelines is that it fails to address any age differences, makes reference to equality legislation while ignoring relevant education / safeguarding legislation and suggests approaches appropriate for older college age students but completely unacceptable for younger children, not just key stage 3 but numerous little children in primary schools with parents claiming they're trans.
It's dangerous.

@CharlieParley Thank you so much for reposting that comment explaining a child's right to an open future!

@ANewCreation

This is how it looks:

13 year old ASD anime/deviantArt and kpop loving Child, having immersed themselves on the Internet and without seeing a doctor, self diagnoses as having gender dysphoria/being trans.

Child, one day, says she wants teachers to change her name to a boys' name on the register and use he/him pronouns.

(Child quite possibly says that they wish to be known by a different boys' name 8 months later...)

Child's view of self as now 'male' - and no longer female - is constantly reinforced in school by trusted adults referring to them as a boy.

Teachers - who are in no way qualified health professionals nor have any clue about how to treat (rather than reinforce) dysphoria - assume that this psychological experiment is ok. Obviously, they would never dream of calling an anorexic child 'fat' or a self harming child 'ugly' but somehow calling a girl a 'boy' seems currently culturally ok, yes??

Child seems more miserable and withdrawn than they were before. Alternatively, but more rarely, child adopts new larger than life/class clown personality.

What name are certificates to be awarded in?

Child's grades start to suffer as they ruminate on gender not geography.

Child wants to take part in boys PE.

Child binds breasts.

Child struggles to breathe in PE lessons.

That there are people on this thread who think that "safeguarding" just for this one group of kids means the school should not tell the parents of this child , who has lost 3 school jumpers this year, who the parents would still get a babysitter for and who asked for Lego for their last birthday, their concerns about what is going on at school...

🤯

It just shows you don't understand kids, parents, teachers, dysphoria, the law or even the basics of safeguarding frameworks.

And that's a dangerous position to be in.

This is exactly how it looks.

@OnlyTheLangOfTheTitberg Also I note that nowhere does the OP suggest that any of the children she is concerned about have disclosed transphobic parents or a risk of such.

When the Tavi came under scrutiny by the media it was revealed that staff at the Tavi were concerned that homophobia played a part in parents supporting their child's transition.

At 4:30

Thanks for the thoughtful posts

Thomasin, who detransitioned just before she was about to be given testosterone at an adult clinic told me she has chronic costochronditis from binding. (there was some gatekeeping at the children's services but ask and ye get at 18 apparently)

How is this a healthy, "safeguarded" idea for young girls?

We are back to the days of women wearing corsets that disfigure and make them faint. But in a perverse reversal.

Excellent posts on the thread around safeguarding.

Daily I salute and am grateful the posters of mn feminism for their work. 👏

Salute from me too. Thank you to so many posters for taking the time to explain things.

Oh and in the US, issues with ribs and breathing through binding is given as the "excellent" clinical reason to give young girls a mastectomy.

Baring in mind also that an awful lot of trans identifying yp have autism and binding gives deep pressure and sensory support that helps with anxiety.

OTs can provide bear hugs which do the same but there are actually a lot of rules around length of times to wear and when etc.

And coming back to that point, in my own sen school it was being extremely into the stereotypes of the opposite sex to the point where it was becoming a difficult, very distracting and upsetting issue for the child, is what ultimately led to his diagnosis of autism, via the Tavistock. (Parents v supportive, it was the school uniform issue. And parents never knew if they should "allow" him to grow his hair. It was before the more recent trend to grow long hair in primary boys around here.)

He was in the sen school as he had some mild learning and communication difficulties but had never had an actual diagnosis of autism.

Given that girl's diagnoses are so frequently missed, not discussing things such as binders with parents, for whom it might be additional information that's useful for CAHMS referrals.

It definitely doesn't mean all YP exploring gender have autism, but it is common.

And given how many young people with autism are very vulnerable to coercion and abuse as they struggle to recognise danger and social cues, definitely another red flag for safeguarding.

A large part of Safeguarding is entirely about considering all the possible effects that could occur as a result of situations.

In many situations we are trained to think of the worse possible scenario, so that it doesn't end up as a case study for the next safeguarding training session elsewhere in the country. Prof Michele Moore sadly has many of these documented already.

Thanks to all those who work with children/vulnerable adults and who know what safeguarding is, and take it seriously.

Valuable information on this thread.

Of course, if having given thought to the balance of risk you are still supportive of a blanket disclosure policy even knowing this can in some cases result in abuse I'm afraid I've little more to say. Hopefully not too many headteachers out there will be willing to follow your line.

Why do you keep arguing against something no-one is advocating?

I know this is an oldish thread but SSA has just published an advice note on this: safeschoolsallianceuk.net/2021/08/22/advice-for-parents-on-social-transitioning-by-schools/?fbclid=IwAR2Vf7Kn6MC-j3G6YwZwl6ZoBd31xQYsg_9BU7paCp8lbtAdsyAvWtcOr5A

@2fallsagain Thank you!

Placemarking, as a parent/victim :(

Chair of WPATH Children and Adolescent Committee has tweeted out against schools supporting a social transition without parental knowledge:

“ I think this is a bad idea in 99% of circumstances. Professionals who know what they’re doing should be involved; and by not including parents, it ultimately makes the situation worse for the kid (unless the parent is abusive- that’s the 1%). I’ve actually never seen this go well”

twitter.com/drlaurael/status/1462968319636480004?s=21

It is ridiculous to suggest that important informationabout a child should be witheld just in case it "makes the child unsafe"

What do you actually mean by "unsafe"? Do you mean that parents might not support their child transitioning? If so, thats not the same thing as being unsafe!!!

Or do you mean that parents might seek to harm their child by means of one of the 4 categories of abuse (physical, emotional, sexual, neglect)?

Because if a school genuinely believes that a child is at risk of abuse, they should be reporting this to the appropriate agencies, not just trying to minimise risk by limiting what information is sent home!

There are some poor children whose parents will beat them if they get a detention/low test mark/bad report card. We don't deal with those situations by just not sending out a report to those parents!