Policy - Victorian State
Click on Policies Introduction, then EXAMPLE ONE: VICTORIAN SCHOOL POLICIES ON TRANSITIONING MINORS:
Under "LGBTIQ Student Support" page under the summary it states:
"Schools must work with students affirming their gender identity to prepare and implement a student support plan.”
Schools therefore are not given the discretion to take a neutral stance, or to allow parents to take the lead in the matter of their child's gender expression, they must affirm the student's chosen identity and prepare and implement a support plan:
"The plan should be developed in consultation with the student and their parents or carers, where possible, and should be reviewed periodically to ensure that it reflects the needs of the student at the different stages of their transition, and at the different stages of their education."
What does this ‘transition’ entail?
catering to the students’ affirmed gender identity
the referencing of and recording of student’s affirmed name, gender identity, and pronouns (he, she, they etc.)
the use of toilets, showers and change rooms that meet the needs of the student. This should be based on the student’s gender identity and whichever facilities they will feel most comfortable using. Students without a disability should not be required to use disabled toilets or facilities.
the appropriate uniform that reflects the gender identity of the student and meets the school’s dress or uniform code
developing a communications plan that includes what information staff members and other students need to know to best support the student
make plans to address potential community concerns, ensuring students’ right to privacy is maintained
providing support to staff through professional learning and briefings on the arrangements for the student where appropriate
consider scheduling regular Student Support Groups to support, guide and monitor the student’s progress
Note: a letter from a gender identity specialist may be requested by the school to support them in developing the plan. This letter is not a conditional requirement for the school in providing support to the student, but it may help to ensure that schools can adequately discharge their duty of care to a student by planning appropriately. Gender identity specialists are available through Royal Children's Hospital and Monash Medical Centre.
What you are looking at above are those behaviours associated with social transitioning, it’s the first stage of the Gender Affirmation Model. The end stage results in permanent irreversible changes to the body, sterilisation and life-long dependences on drugs and cross-sex hormones. The following stages in this model are puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgical body modification.
So, the question must be asked, what of parental consent or involvement in their child’s medical and psycho-social care?
Parental consent, knowledge or involvement can be ignored if the parents do not consent to their child’s new ‘gender identity’ and the schools therefore can determine that the children may be “mature minors” for the purposes of transitioning with the support of controversial gender clinics like the Royal Children’s Hospital who perform the medical and surgical transitioning.
“If a student is considered a mature minor, they can make decisions for themselves without parental consent and should be affirmed in their gender identity at school without a family representative/carer participating in formulating the school management plan.”
Is there a specific age? No.
“Where a student under the age of 18 asks to make a decision instead of their parent or carer, principals or others working with students in schools can decide that the student is capable of making their own decision i.e., that they are a mature minor for the purpose of making a particular decision.”
For the ‘particular decision’ of transitioning, parental consent is not required. Indeed the parent might not even be informed by the school of the child’s desire/intention to “transition”/identify as “transgender”. The parent/s might instead be completely cut out of the equation.
As a parent you will need to sign a letter of consent for a child to go on a school excursion, to camp, or play in certain sports for example. However no parental consent is required to prepare your child to change their gender and identity?
There is no explanation for how this can be so - why is parental consent required in other instances, but not when it comes to this issue? School aged children, both secondary and primary, can decide to change their gender, and the school must support this transition and neither inform or require parental consent. The policy is written in such a way as though parental consent is advantageous, it is not necessary.
Recently, the court case around the removal of a young girl from her WA parents was in The Australian. It's a chilling warning to us all. A girl on the autistic spectrum, with a history of depression, who was uprooted to a new State, having difficulty making friends, got online and discovered a community that informed her; her troubles would be over if she transitioned to a boy. Online she stated she would commit suicide if she wasn't allowed a double mastectomy. Several days later police showed up at the parents' door and removed the child. They haven't seen her in 3 years.
In Australia, parental rights of care are being removed in the names of policies pushing gender identity ideology and the pharmaceutical driven agenda of gender affirmation.
Please be informed on what policies your school follows, please read the links provided and stand up against a state sanctioned ideology that is breaking the bonds of parent and child.