education. Jenna’s Law as it currently stands, is geared largely toward educating school district employees to the signs, symptoms and procedures for recognizing and the handling of child sexual abuse, maltreatment and sex trafficking victims. Necessitate the Policy Review of state education records supplemented by federal crime data indicated between fall 2011 and spring 2015, approximately 17,000 official reports of peer-on-peer sexual assaults occurred on school campuses in the United States . According to McDowell et al. (2017), schools ranked as the second highest location for the prevalence of juvenile peer-on-peer sexual victimization. On school property, student-on-student “sexual attacks” occur more frequently than adult-on-child sexual assaults. For each sexual assault perpetrated by an adult on school property, seven student-on-student sexual assaults occurred . School based education programs as a means of primary prevention of child sexual abuse have shown an increase in students’ knowledge and personal-protective skills . The Texas Education Code (TEC), Chapter 38, section 38.0041, subsection C, outlines required sexual abuse and other maltreatment training schools must include to raise awareness of the issues. The specific requirements of training as outlined in subsections C1 and C2 dictate yearly training must be provided for new and existing school employees. There are no existing requirements within TEC Chapter 38, section 38.0041 mandating students receive any Child Sexual Abuse (CSA) prevention education training. Chapter 38, section 38.0041 needs to be amended to include students in required yearly training. According to Morris et al. , the ability for schools to reach large populations of students make it an ideal location for effective delivery of CSA prevention education in a cost-effective manner. Data compiled by the National Center for Educational Statistics for the 2015-2016 school year ranked Texas 2nd in the nation in public
their children before allowing them to be educated by others. Having such a low federal budget for school districts makes the resources for sexual abuse prevention education extremely limited, especially in rural areas. As far as lack of school participation, if this type of education was mandated to come in once a year, schools would be more likely to accept and prepare for the topic with students, staff, and parents. After meeting with Jillian Bliss from Senator Burton’s office, she suggested the student group somehow work in a factor where parents were aware long before the event took place, such as sending home flyers, putting information on the school website, sending emails, making phone calls, and making sure elements listed above were in Spanish and English. In providing information about the topic and allowing parents to opt their children out of the programs if desired these factors could possibly support the bill being passed. Implication for Social Work Amending Texas Education Code 38.0041, mandates schools to implement age appropriate CSA education training once a year, has implications of social work at the micro, mezzo, and macro level. The micro level of this policy begins with the children who are experiencing sexual abuse first hand. As the child expresses the situation the social worker has the ability to listen and gain knowledge about the subject, allowing them to educate others about the situation. The social work core value of social justice is implemented through this policy, because social workers have the ability to challenge the social injustice by pursuing change for the children who are a vulnerable population. At the mezzo level, individual schools are educated and aware of child sexual abuse. This level includes all students, teachers, and staff who would obtain this yearly training. At the macro level, communities are affected. Once this training is provided, children and teachers are able to speak more about the topic and spread
National Center for Educational Statistics. (2017). Enrollment in public elementary and secondary schools, by level, grade, and state or jurisdiction: Fall 2015. Retrieved from https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d17/tables/dt17_203.40.asp. National Children’s Alliance. (2016). NCA statistics-statistical report 2016: Texas. Retrieved from http://www.nationalchildrensalliance.org/sites/default/files/2016TexasAnnual.pdf. National Opponents of Comprehensive Sexuality Education. (2008). Knowing the opposition. Retrieved from http://www.communityactionkit.org/index.cfm?pageId=920#_edn3><span><span style=. J. (2018). Jenna’s Law. Retrieved from http://jennaquinn.org/jennas-law. Topping, K. J., & Barron, I. G. (2009). School-based child sexual abuse prevention programs: A review of effectiveness. Review of Educational Research, 79(1), 431-463. doi:10.3102/0034654308325582 Townsend, C., & Rheingold, A. A. (2013). Estimating a child sexual abuse prevalence rate for practitioners: A review of child sexual abuse prevalence studies. Charleston, SC: Darkness to Light. Retrieved from www.D2L.org/1in10. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2010). The Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act. Retrieved from https://www.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/cb/capta2010.pdf.