THREAD Dear @PerthandKinross @UKGovScotland @EducationScot @NicolaSturgeon this is abhorrent. We have been contacted by many parents, this is what one Mum who was herself sexually abused as a child has to say: #edutwitter #WomenEd #safeguarding
“ If you are a child being sexually abused/raped then how on earth do you process trying to answer these questions?”
“How do you answer whether you have had sexual intercourse? Do they mean what is happening to you? Do you lie even though you have been taught to tell the truth? Will you be in trouble? Will anyone find out?”
“How do you process the question about contraception and the worry about pregnancy and STIs, which may even be the first time this concern has occurred to you?”
“Are you expected to process all this whilst filling out this survey in front of your peers (while desperately trying to hide your shame and embarrassment etc)?”
“Or do you take the survey home to fill it in, leaving you to deal with the upset in your room alone?”
“And can your abuser use it to convince you that other young children are having sexual intercourse as why else would they be asking about children having sex?”
“Of course rape/ #CSA is not sexual intercourse but that is not want an abused child will have been taught.”
“Where is the safeguarding designed in this survey to protect the mental well-being of sexually abused children?”
We have listened to tales of profound distress such as this, daily for over 2 1/2 years now. We do this for free, on top of our day jobs, on top of running our homes, on top of other volunteer roles, on top of caring for children, on top of caring for elderly relatives, on top…
of bereavement, on top of dealing with a pandemic. We do this every single day, for free because those whose job it is do not. People who are paid hundreds of thousands of pounds of public money are in complete dereliction of the duty we all share to safeguard children. If this…
is your job and you are not doing it, hang your head in shame. There are far too many of you.
END @BorisJohnson @Keir_Starmer @nicolastarmer @peterwanless @nspcc @Girlguiding @GirlguidingCEO @ChildrensComm @educationgovuk @Ofstednews @barnardos @carolinenokes @DawnButlerBrent
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