Creating a Safe World for Children

Prevention

The agenda to prevent child sexual abuse is built on the model of the four preconditions to child sexual abuse (Finkelhor).

Precondition #1 is that an individual who has sexual feelings toward children is present. The reasons for the need to have sex with children are numerous and CPTCSA has several activities aimed at preventing children today from becoming offenders of tomorrow (therapy for at-risk boys, teaching appropriate behavior).

Precondition #2 is that the individual who has sexual feelings toward children does not have well-developed internal inhibitors (the ability to recognize that a feeling or behavior is wrong, to regulate the sexual feelings, or to control the behavior). CPTCSA has several activities aimed to developing these internal inhibitors (therapy for at-risk boys, teaching empathy, decision-making and impulse control to all children, and advocating what is proper behavior).

Precondition #3 is that there are no external inhibitors (forces outside of the individual who has sexual feelings toward children) which will label the sexual feelings inappropriate, cause the sexual feelings to be regulated, or prevent the feelings from being acted on. Alternately, the external inhibitors have been successfully circumvented. CPTCSA has several activities that include working with adults to recognize early warning signs and confront adults with inappropriate behaviors, educating communities (including churches),and empowering child protection systems (such as schools, police, and welfare).

Precondition #4 is that a vulnerable child is present. CPTCSA’s largest program focuses on empowering students, teachers, and whole school systems in child protection. The CPTCSA activity to meet this precondition is part of the teaching of personal safety in all schools, that has been mandated by the Department of Education in May 2009 through DepEd Order #45.

Personal Safety is a series of lessons for each grade level (preschool-4th year HS) to provide ongoing accurate information to the child, skills to act on that information, and self-confidence for the courage to practice skills learned. While these materials are produced for the classroom, they can also be used within social service agency groups as well as community groups (such as congregations with Sunday Schools).

The emphasis on personal safety lessons to prevent child sexual abuse and provide early intervention through the empowerment of the child, teacher, and parents. The methodologies used are primarily storytelling (for elementary using 11″ X 16″ illustrations) and role playing, with a variety of other activities to supplement and enhance learning.

Major issues in this age-appropriate series include definitions, assertiveness, support systems, reporting, self esteem, decision-making, and appropriate discipline behaviors. Older children also are presented with gender issues.

Personal Safety Lessons is a product of 15 years of collaboration between CPTCSA, DepEd, DSWD and many NGO and donor agencies.

WHY PERSONAL SAFETY LESSONS

The lessons are build on the following five articles from the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child:

Article 12 – Child’s Opinion:  Every child has a right to express his/her views, have those views taken seriously, and such opinions should be taken into account in decisions affecting the child.

Article 13 – Freedom of Expression:  Every child has a right to find out things and say what s/he thinks through speaking, writing, art, unless it breaks the rights of others.

Article 17 – Access to Information: Every child has a right to collect information from radios, newspapers, television, books, internet from all around the world.  Adults should make sure that the child gets information that the child can understand.

Article 19 – Protection from Abuse and Neglect:  No one should hurt the child in any way.  Adults should make sure that the child is protected from abuse, violence and neglect.  Even the parents have no rights to hurt the child.

Article 34 – Sexual Abuse:  Every child has the right to be protected from sexual abuse.  This means that nobody can do anything to the child’s body that s/he does not want them to do, such as touching, taking pictures or making the child say things that s/he does not want to say.

THE FILIPINO PENAL CODE

PURSUANT TO PD603: Article 59: Crimes – Criminal liability shall attach to any parent who: (8) inflicts cruel and unusual punishment upon the child or deliberately subjects him to indignities and other excessive chastisement that embarrass or humiliate him; and (9) causes or encourages the child to lead an immoral or dissolute life.

PURSUANT TO RA7610: Article III, Section 5: Child prostitution and other sexual abuse – Children, whether male or female, who for money, profit or any other consideration or due to the coercion or influence of any adult, syndicate or group, indulge in sexual intercourse or lascivious conduct, are deemed to be children exploited in prostitution and other sexual abuse.

Article III, Section 6: Attempt to commit prostitution – There is an attempt to commit child prostitution when any person who, not being a relative of a child, is found alone with the said child under circumstances which would lead a reasonable person to believe that the child is about to be exploited in prostitution and other sexual abuse.

Article VI, Section 10: Other acts of neglect, abuse, cruelty or exploitation and other conditions prejudicial to the child’s development.

PURSUANT TO RA7877: Section 3:  Education or training-related sexual harassment is committed by a teacher, instructor, coach, trainer, or any other person who, having authority, influence or moral ascendancy over another in an education environment, demands, request, or otherwise requires any sexual favor from the other, regardless of whether the demand, request or requirement for submission is accepted by the object of said act.

Rules and Regulation on the Reporting and Investigation of Child Abuse Cases, Section 5: Duty of government workers to report – It shall be the duty of all teachers and administrators in public schools, probation officers, government lawyers, law enforcement officers, barangay officials, corrections officers and other government officials and employees whose work involves dealing with children to report all incidents of possible child abuse to the Department of Social Welfare and Development.

What has already been done and how was personal safety mandated by DepEd?

1994 – A very small group of CPTCSA professionals started talking about prevention of child sex abuse and on how this could be achieved in school.

1994 to 1995 [1st Stage] –materials from the United States (Committee for Children) were revised in Filipino context through the creation of an advisory committee composed of representatives from DSWD, DECS, the academe, psychologists, and social workers. The revised materials in grades 1 and 5 and 2nd year and 4th year high schools were then tested to a private school. The pilot resulted in several revisions for re-testing.

1996 to 1999 [2nd Stage] – Began testing the materials in the public schools in all levels, mostly schools from NCR but also reached some schools in Pampanga and Aklan. The process was presented at the International Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse & Neglect Conference, Auckland 1996.

2000 [3rd Stage] – Met with Director Carolina Guerrero then BSE director and DECS finally opened its door and got involved in the project under its Life Skills Program.

PILOT YEARS 2001 – 2004

2001 [4th Stage] – Three-year pilot of the materials in the national level to 14 schools in 7 selected areas was approved through a MOA signed between DECS and CPTCSA. Former Sec. Raul Roco signed the mandate given to selected pilot schools and Dr. Reynaldo Lesaca on behalf of CPTCSA.

2003 – Marked the last year of the pilot phase. A National Conference was organized with the pilot areas. Implementation guidelines were developed. From the beginning of the 3 year pilot project, approximately 28,000 students received PS lessons, of which 60 students (.21%) disclosed touching problems and cases were managed by the multi-disciplinary teams.

2004 – Conducted the evaluation intended for DepEd presentation and further action.

Expansion Years

2005 – Presented the PSL project evaluation results to the DepEd

November 2005 –  Memorandum of Agreement signed between CPTCSA and DepEd regarding expansion, with then DepEd OIC Dr. Fe A. Hidalgo as signee.

March 2006 – Conducted first Training of Trainers with 28 participants from the 7 PSL pilot areas.

August 2007 – The Council for the Welfare of Children endorsed to DepEd the institutionalization of PSL (letter signed by then CWC Director Lina Laigo).

September 2007 – a memorandum circular was released by the Department of Interior and Local Government  to LGUs in certain PSL areas  encouraging them to support the CPTCSA in the PSL implementation sustainability through their respective local school boards (LSBs).

2008 – A series of meetings were conducted between CPTCSA and DepEd, represented by BEE Director Yolanda Quijano, for the order draft.
-  PSL is institutionalized in the Child Abuse Prevention and Intervention Network (CAPIN) of Consuelo Algers Foundation ( CAF)

May 6, 2009 – DepEd order for the institutionalization of the PSL in both elementary and secondary schools nationwide is signed by Udersecretary Ramon Bacani.

Personal safety is lessons designed to protect children from any form of manipulation. This includes bullying from friends and abuse by adults, specifically sexual abuse.

• Personal Safety empowers children to take part in their own protection by giving them information, skills, and self esteem within their own culture and religion
• Personal Safety teaches children that their body belongs only to them and nobody has the right to touch them in a way they do not like or understand
• Personal Safety teachers children to understand their emotions to help them keep safe, using fear and anger in positive ways
• Personal Safety teaches assertiveness skills, helping children to stand up for their own rights without violating the rights of other
• Personal Safety builds the support system of each child, including the family, church, school, community, and friends
• Personal Safety builds the self-esteem of each child to empower them to practice assertiveness skills for their own protection
• Personal Safety builds empathy for one another
• Personal Safety works to prevent today’s children from being tomorrow’s offender
• Personal Safety teaches children that only the offender is to blame for any inappropriate sexual touch
• Personal Safety teaches that touch includes physcial, visual, verbal and emotional.

In response to vulnerabilities specific to our children, we must teach and model age appropriate Information, Skills, and Self-Esteem.
Some information needed by children (depending on age):

• Touching rules (boundaries)•
• Body parts vocabulary
• Telling vocabulary
• Sexuality
• Gender differences and  issues
• Support systems
• Laws

Some skills needed:

• Assertiveness
• Reporting  (using support systems)
• Telling
• Decision-making / anger management / impulse control

Building self-esteem in order to practice skills needed:

• Understanding feelings/emotions
• Affirmation of worth and rights
• Building / Teaching empathy

Personal Safety is provided over an average of 10 hours in school, using the following age appropriate methodologies:

• Story telling
• Puppetry
• Role playing
• Games
• Songs
• Discussion
• Workbook activities

Personal Safety includes parents in  the teaching of their children:

• Letters to parents are sent home with students to keep them informed of the progress of lessons/safety rules taught in the schools.
• Letters are sent to parents to empower them how to implement at home the lessons/safety rules taught in the school.
• A PTA meeting is scheduled prior to the beginning of Personal Safety classes for parents to raise questions.
• Lessons are user-friendly with full lesson plans, activities, and materials needed (including sample answers to questions provided for discussion).

Teachers play a crucial role in the process of helping children participate in their own protection and are an important link in the chain of providing children age-appropriate information and helping develop skills among children contributing towards their safety and overall development. Therefore, it is of paramount significance that the teachers be trained properly so that they can perform this role effectively and efficaciously. Such training will introduce and familiarize them with the concepts of personal safety, and will build their capacities to work with students and do activities based upon the personal safety lessons module.

Selection of the teachers for training to conduct personal safety will be determined by the principal. As much as possible teachers to conduct personal safety should be equal male and female. The target group preferred includes:

For elementary school, social studies teachers, and/or class advisers, guidance counselors, and principals
For secondary school, values education teachers, social studies, homeroom teachers, guidance counselors, and principals

It is also very important that the teachers chosen for taking forward Personal Safety in the schools meet certain prerequisites. These prerequisites are:

• They should be willing to teach personal safety lessons to their students, and
• They should be comfortable with their own sexuality.

These prerequisites are important as they will help the teachers in better and insightful understanding of the concept of personal safety and will also help immensely in actual teaching to the children.

ONLY THOSE TRAINED IN PERSONAL SAFETY AND USE OF THE MATERIALS WILL BE ABLE TO TEACH PERSONAL SAFETY.

Chosen teachers will have to first attend a four-day training conducted by CPTCSA-trained DepEd trainers. The four-day trainings will follow a set manual developed by CPTCSA. (Those teachers already conducting PSL will be provided booster\sessions based on their need.)

The objectives of these trainings will be:

• To help participants understand child sexual abuse, its causes and effects.
• To build capacities of the participants in order to be competent with using personal safety materials.
• To increase comfort level of the participants with issues concerning sexuality.
• To equip the participants with information on how to handle disclosures of sexual abuse by children.
• To develop information and knowledge of the participants to use the multidisciplinary team, and regarding the reporting flow in cases of child sexual abuse.

The principals are required to notify all teachers about the information regarding the training schedule.

WORKING WITH PARENTS

The more parents know about the personal safety program, especially that it is designed for the safety of children with years of research and experience involved, the more parents will support the project. Parents will need to understand that their children are being presented with a sensitive subject in a sensitive manner. Parents also need to know that the project works to provide the information in a safe manner that will not develop fear in their children. The objective of the project is to help children feel safe.

You have several options when informing parents and working with them as partners in the safety of their children:

1. Schedule a special meeting of the Parent-Teacher Association (or any meeting) so that parents may hear about the programs and preview materials. Contact local agencies for flyers or other OIC materials. CPTCSA has several that focus on parents that are free or can be purchased and distributed. An idea is for the parents to even participate in a mock lesson so that they can experience what their children will go through in your classroom.
2. Send out letters to parents before the beginning of personal safety lessons and then as each new unit begins. Provide parents in these letters with possible activities they can do with their children, such as feelings games and “what if…” scenarios to practice.
3. Encourage parents to call the teacher or principal if there are questions or concerns. As with any school program, parents understandably want the door open for their input.
4. You may invite parents to attend an actual presentation. A drawback to this option is that the presence of adults sometimes distracts from the program or inhibits responses. However, this could be overcome by allowing parents to attend a specific lesson only.

It is usually safe to expect parents support rather than resist sexual abuse prevention programs. When parents are informed and involved, many parents organization not only endorse, but will support such education. It is important, however, to be prepared to answer all questions and criticism in a straightforward manner that respects parents’ interest in their children’s welfare.