Sex-ed programs Designed by Prostitution Advocates (moral, homosexual, mission, church)

[Quiddity]

Although one result of the Catholic Church's traumatic clergy-sex scandal last year was the mandating of "personal safety training" sex-education programs to protect the next generation of youngsters in Catholic schools, one of the most popular such programs was designed by prostitution advocates, according to outraged parents in several dioceses using it.
In the summer of 2002, in the midst of the crisis caused by the Boston sex scandal, the U.S. Catholic bishops adopted the Dallas Charter, which calls for implementing a suitable, "age-appropriate" personal safety training program for youngsters. The Conference recruited former FBI staffer Kathleen McChesney to administer the U.S. Bishops' Office of Child and Youth Protection. Teams of auditors from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops are already visiting dioceses to monitor their progress.
The "Talking About Touching" program is taught in over 5,000 public schools nationwide, and over 20,000 schools globally, according to Joan Duffell, director of community education for Seattle-based Committee for Children which produces the program. Average cost to a diocese for the program is $20,000 to $50,000 for the initial year.
The problem, complain some Catholic parents in the Archdiocese of Boston and elsewhere, is that the Committee for Children is actually the cleaned-up name of COYOTE — "Call Off Your Tired Old Ethics" — an advocacy organization for prostitution. Recently, Boston-area Catholic schools have introduced the "Talking About Touching" in kindergarten through fourth grade. The program covers issues ranging from bike safety to fire safety, but as the title indicates, the bulk of the program addresses improper "touching."

Continued.....
http://www.catholicculture.org/docs/...fm?recnum=6934

[evearael]

Victor, do you feel the program is worthwhile, though the source obviously disagrees with the Church on prostitution (or used to...)?

[standing_on_one_foot]

Well, one assumes they would know something about protection...I can't tell from the article exactly what's in the curriculum. I mean, I hardly feel it's "homosexual militants with the goal of changing moral values," but it's entirely possible that the program's got innapropriate content. Some of the quotes did seem iffy.

[Pah]

http://www.walnet.org/csis/groups/coyote.html

COYOTE (Call Off Your Tired Ethics) was founded by Margo St. James in 1973 to work for the repeal of the prostitution laws and an end to the stigma associated with sexual work. In addition to engaging in public education regarding a wide range of issues related to prostitution, COYOTE has provided crisis counseling, support groups, and referrals to legal and other service providers to thousands of prostitutes, mostly women. COYOTE members have also testified at government hearings, served as expert witnesses in trials, helped police with investigations of crimes against prostitutes, and provided sensitivity training to government and private non-profit agencies that provide services to prostitutes.

http://www.cfchildren.org/cfc/aboutf/aboutindex/

Committee for Children, a nonprofit organization, is an international leader in social, emotional, and academic learning. Our award-winning programs and prevention curricula focus on the topics of youth violence, bullying, child abuse, personal safety, and emergent literacy. Each year, our programs reach millions of children and educators throughout the world.

We understand the link between academic achievement and social and emotional competency. That's why our programs teach social, academic, and safety skills that help children find their place in the world and lead to lifelong success.

Committee for Children has been partnering with experts at leading universities since the 1970s and continues to explore healthy child development in the academic, home, and community environments. Our programs focus on the essential competencies of empathy, impulse control, anger management, problem solving, personal safety, and emergent literacy. And each program takes a unique approach that is based on extensive research.

Committee for Children also conducts evaluation research, writes timely articles and reviews of children's literature, provides assessment tools for schools and agencies, and provides training and ongoing support to educators and parents.

It would seem to be two entirely different organizations with different goals and purpose.

[evearael]

It would seem to be two entirely different organizations with different goals and purpose.

Check out the beginning of the timeline here:
http://www.cfchildren.org/cfc/aboutf/cfchistory
The very bottom...

[Pah]

In November 1945 a council of lay and professional people, spearheaded by Mrs. Agnes Bevan Park and Mrs. Sadie D. Ginsberg organized the Maryland committee for Group Day Care of Children (MCGDCC).

This is the forerunner of Committee for Children. The history is available at http://archives.ubalt.edu/mch/info.htm

[Quiddity]

Originally Posted by evearael

Victor, do you feel the program is worthwhile, though the source obviously disagrees with the Church on prostitution (or used to...)?

I'm not as critical about it. If COYOTE has cleaned up and it's mission changed, I see no problem with it. If they are still advocating legalizing prostitution, then that's a different story.

As far as the program being effective, I have no idea. You won't see the results for another several years.