Jude Bishop with her puppet Toby at Mt Albert Playcentre, with children (from left) Florian Craig-Smith, Ada Hibberd, Zinnia Hibberd and Francis Gleeson-Jones. Photo / Jason Oxenham
Jude Bishop with her puppet Toby at Mt Albert Playcentre, with children (from left) Florian Craig-Smith, Ada Hibberd, Zinnia Hibberd and Francis Gleeson-Jones. Photo / Jason Oxenham
A safety programme for preschoolers that has run for 28 years and aims to reduce New Zealand’s appalling sexual abuse rates is in peril, after ACC ended its funding.
The We Can Keep Safe programme has educated more than 17,000 children aged 3-5, as well as their parents and caregivers.
Jude Bishop uses her puppet Toby to teach children in an age-appropriate way about touching rules, body ownership, and how to say “stop” if they don’t like something.
The programme is run by the HELP Auckland charity for free/koha in early childhood centres.
A parent/caregiver evening is held before the programme begins, where the course contents are carefully explained, and questions answered. There are then five sessions with the children.
Parents at Mt Albert Playcentre spoken to by the Herald were dismayed its funding had been scrapped.
“I found it a really gentle, thoughtful way to approach such a hard topic,” said Blanche Edwards, whose daughter Hazel, 4, completed the programme in May.
“It wasn’t alarming the children. It was just a great way to frame body ownership.”
Josca Craig-Smith’s son Florian, 4, was similarly engaged.
“He’s been saying, ‘I’m the boss of my body’... I don’t think we have had good examples historically - our parents have been nervous about talking about it. It’s been one or two conversations, whereas, really, it’s an ongoing process. And this course was a real window into that.”
Jude Bishop with her puppet Toby and 4-year-old Florian Craig-Smith. Photo / Jason Oxenham
Another parent, who is an ACC client for sensitive claims relating to childhood abuse, told the Herald the programme’s messaging is clear, concise and practical.
“There was so much stuff in there I wish I had been able to use myself as a child. It would have given me language and skills, and to communicate with my parents about what had been going on for me.”
Since 2015, ACC had provided $100,000 annually to run 50 workshops, but this ended in July. HELP Auckland is applying for grants and seeking donations, but if the gap can’t be filled, it will need to ask centres/parents to cover some of the shortfall, or reduce visits.
“That’s the concern for me, because my push is to get as many children through this programme as possible, to help protect them,” Bishop said.
“This is too valuable to lose... come hell or high water, I am not going to lie down and let this thing die.”
Tane Cassidy, ACC’s deputy chief executive of prevention and partnerships, said last October it committed nearly $45 million over four years to “implement a primary prevention approach that supports healthy consensual relationships and to align with Te Aorerekura, the national strategy aimed at eliminating family and sexual violence”.
“This new approach takes sexual violence prevention beyond education in the classroom and into the wider community to address the drivers of the harm.
“We are currently funding five community-led initiatives, one of which, HELP Auckland, is funded as part of a collaborative approach.”
Jude Bishop: “This is too valuable to lose." Photo / Jason Oxenham
In the 2021 national youth health and wellbeing survey, nearly one in five young people reported having been touched in a sexual way, or made to do sexual things they didn’t want to.
We Can Keep Safe was assessed for the Ministry of Justice in 2012, and evaluators found “marked changes in the children’s knowledge before and after completing the programme”.
Most or all of the children assessed could:
Distinguish between “okay” and “not okay” touches, and talk through what they would do if someone touched them in a way they didn’t like, including an adult to tell.
Identify and use the correct term for genital areas, such as penis and bottom, and articulate touching rules, such as it not being okay for someone else to touch your penis/vulva/bottom.
Distinguish between secrets and surprises, with most children saying they would tell their mum when presented with a scenario involving a “secret”.
Parents who had previously talked to their children about personal safety had focused on “stranger danger”.
Jude Bishop at the Onepoto Playcentre in Northcote 20 years ago. We Can Keep Safe has run since 1995. Photo / Paul Estcourt
Following the programme, this widened to include “who they can talk to if they are worried (ie how to identify safe and trusted adults), that they are the bosses of their bodies and who is allowed to touch their body parts”, the report noted.
“Many parents said they felt more comfortable talking with their children.”
The evaluation wasn’t designed to find out if the programme had increased disclosure rates or decreased incidence rates of sexual abuse.
“Nevertheless, the programme content is consistent with the protection strategies outlined in the [research] literature that are believed to reduce risk factors in preschool children,” it concluded.
