Keeping Children Safe in Education; guidance updated last night!

[InThePottingShed]

Paragraphs 205 to 209 ‘Children who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or questioning their gender’ – disclaimer added, and additional text includes further clarification to comply with gender questioning children guidance terminology.

See Transgender Trend X post for more detail.

https://x.com/Transgendertrd/status/1794313243537858910

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6650a1967b792ffff71a83e8/Keeping_children_safe_in_education_2024.pdf

That's great. The fact that a trans activist group like Stonewall was initially allowed to write that section was a travesty given their evident failings with regard to safeguarding children.
That's a nuanced section that rightly centres Cass and working with parents. Excellent news.

'Children who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or gender questioning

N.B. This section remains under review, pending the outcome of the gender
questioning children guidance consultation, and final gender questioning guidance documents being published.

205. A child or young person being lesbian, gay, or bisexual is not in itself an
     inherent risk factor for harm, however, they can sometimes be targeted by other
     children. In some cases, a child who is perceived by other children to be lesbian,
     gay, or bisexual (whether they are or not) can be just as vulnerable as children who
     are.

206. However, the Cass review identified that caution is necessary for children
     questioning their gender as there remain many unknowns about the impact of
     social transition and children may well have wider vulnerabilities, including having complex mental health and psychosocial needs, and in some cases additional diagnoses of autism spectrum disorder and/or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

207. It recommended that when families/carers are making decisions about support for gender questioning children, they should be encouraged to seek clinical help and advice. When parents are supporting pre-pubertal children, clinical services should ensure that they can be seen as early as possible by a clinical professional with relevant experience.

208. As such, when supporting a gender questioning child, schools should take a
     cautious approach and consider the broad range of their individual needs, in
     partnership with the child’s parents (other than in the exceptionally rare
     circumstances where involving parents would constitute a significant risk of harm to the child), including any clinical advice that is available and how to address wider vulnerabilities such as the risk of bullying. Schools should refer to our Guidance for Schools and Colleges in relation to Gender Questioning Children, when deciding how to proceed.

209. Risks can be compounded where children lack trusted adults with whom
     they can be open. It is therefore vital that staff endeavour to reduce the additional
     barriers faced and create a culture where they can speak out or share their concerns with members of staff'

Copied and.pasted - I've tried to correct formatting!

Aaaand the formatting is still off, sorry. PDFs are a pain.

'It recommended that when families/carers are making decisions about support for gender questioning children, they should be encouraged to seek clinical help and advice'

I'm a bit unsure about medicalising this.

Presumably that's to remind educators that children "changing sex" is outside their professional expertise and not something they should be getting involved with?

There seems to be no mention of the other children who, up to now, have often been emotionally abused by being compelled / forced to validate a lie about another student's or indeed teacher's sex? Which is ALREADY in very direct breach of the section which defines emotional abuse and makes it clear that this includes being denied the opportunity to express themselves normally or being only valued insofar as they provide validation to others.

That's a massive issue - along with adults using even the youngest of children to validate their "identity" as in "I'm not a man or a woman" and other unscientific nonsense. But I suspect that we're some way from that.

Hopefully Cass will have finally made it clear to Labour that, (no matter how many of them have children confused about what sex they are), the whole thing is a mass experimentation on the emotional and physical health of children and they'll be reluctant to allow the trans extremist groups to have the unfettered access to schools they've been given up to now?
Hopefully....

That’s not medicalising. That’s ensuring children get the appropriate psychological support which following Cass should be holistic and looking at possible underlying issues. Hopefully it will mean that schools will be altered to the fact that making the decision to support social transition is outwith their competence and no school will tell a parent (like my daughter’s former school did) that they would not consider the clinical advice we had received to not support her social transition.

Argh, switched mindset in that last sentence from general “parents” to me!

Yes, it makes sense in that context, rogdmum.

In a broader context, pre pubertal children 'exploring gender' surely is just no big deal? Kids playing dress up or experimenting with roles or stereotypes seems a natural part of growing up to me.and surely doesn't need any particular action taken.

'When parents are supporting pre-pubertal children, clinical services should ensure that they can be seen as early as possible'

If this means gender dysphoria then fine, but the phrase used is 'gender questioning' which seems vague to me.

It's not updated though is it? It's pending the outcome of a consultation. What's to celebrate or have I misread it?