JESS MCALLEN

The woman, who wishes to remain anonymous, says her son was shocked and her husband appalled when the GP asked the husband to leave so he could ask the boy what she described as “totally inappropriate” questions.

“The health issue was regarding a personal area, so we thought it was just carrying on about that,” she said.

The GP was following a protocol dubbed a HEEADSSS assessment – which stands for Home environment, Education and employment, Eating, peer-related Activities, Drugs, Sexuality, Suicide/depression and Safety from injury and violence. It is used as a tool to screen youth who may be at risk.

The boy had previously had trouble sleeping and didn’t like crowds, but his mother is questioning whether the topics covered were appropriate.

“Why do they have to sexualise our children? Why did we not have this topic discussed with us before we consented? We had a right to know.”

Her complaint to the Health and Disability Commissioner was unsuccessful on the basis that the boy’s father had given permission. However, she said he would never have consented had he known what his son was going to be asked.

“We felt violated. The doctor had gone into areas of his life that he should not have gone into. Certainly not without the consent of his dad.

“There are some 12-year-olds having sex, but some of us choose not to sexualise our children. We want children to be children and their innocence to be there.”

Youthline’s Stephen Bell said that although it’s ideal to have families on board, sometimes they can be a risk.

Youthline, a counselling service for youth, uses the HEEADSSS assessment as a guideline to understand what’s happening with a young person. It’s not necessarily done in the first meeting, said Bell, and is about pacing and matching where the young person is.

The Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners said HEEADSSS is a good example of a screening tool.

“The college does not explicitly endorse many screening tools [aside from the ABC alcohol screening tool] and our expectation is that if a doctor chooses to use a screening tool they need to make sure it is relevant, used appropriately and its use is supported by evidence,” a spokesperson said.

A guideline to the assessment recommends parents do not sit in because it can limit how much sensitive information the patient will provide.

Read article here: http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/63244134/Doctors-sex-quiz-shocks-mother

Comments by Bob McCoskrie of Family First New Zealand:

The problem with the programme and the attitude from groups like Youthline is the basic presumption that children and young people need to be fully aware of every adult concept that we can throw at them, and parents are one of the biggest barriers to young people developing the way they need to. That is completely false. It also continues the ‘war’ on parents in terms of telling parents how to raise and discipline their children, the ‘rights of children’ taking precedence over the important role of parents, parental notification laws for teen abortions, and ‘confidentiality’ being used because of the perceived ‘risk’ of parents.
This programme may be warranted and necessary for a family where it’s known that the parents are dysfunctional and the child are at-risk, but in the case of this family, that was not the case.
Any parents of a 12 year old would be horrified by being excluded from this process involving invasive questions such as ‘have you had obsessions about sex, does homeschooling teach you anything about sex, have you had sex and be sure to always do it with someone you love.’
Questions in the guideline also include “are your sexual activities enjoyable?, how many sexual partners have you had?” Even the questions around depression and suicide may be inappropriate and not suitable for certain ages.
It’s also contrary to guidelines. Under the Health Information Privacy Code parents do have a right of access to their children’s health information as long as the child is under 16.

Students are now less likely to have a male teacher, with many going through their early education years without ever encountering a male role model.

Ministry of Education figures show fewer than one-in-five primary school teachers are male.

Principals want more research on what is putting men off the profession, but fear pay and high-profile sexual abuse cases are to blame.

The Ministry of Education is “very conscious” of the gender imbalance, but says with no shortage of teachers there are no recruitment drives aimed at men.

“Evidence tells us that the most important factor in lifting achievement is the quality of teaching, not the gender of the teacher,” said Dr Graham Stoop, the ministry’s head of student achievement.

Last year 28 per cent of teachers were men, down slightly from 2012 and a fall from 30 per cent in the mid-2000s.

The percentage of male teachers at primary schools fell to 18 per cent (down 1 per cent) and at secondary schools dipped to 42 per cent (down 2 per cent).

Latest Census statistics show only 3 per cent of teachers in the early childhood sector are men.

Principals’ Federation president Phil Harding said many schools struggled to hire male teachers, and there were good reasons why a more even gender split was desirable.

“Look at the percentages of children that are living with no father in their daily lives. We see the fall-out from that with boys that have lost their way, are desperately unhappy, and don’t feel like they can talk about it with mum.

“So that all gets bottled up and rebounds in the playground in anger – deeply seated stuff.”

Read the rest of the article here: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11359588