With additional reporting by Gary Kavanagh
Gript can reveal that the Ombudsman for Children’s Office (OCO) has been aware of material instructing teachers to lie to parents about their child’s gender and sexuality since at least February of this year.
Last week Gript reported that BeLongTo has been coaching teachers and youth workers not to “out” children to their parents since 2019, specifically instructing them to lie if a parent asks if their child is transgender or gay.
Gript has seen correspondence showing that the OCO said it found no issue with the state funded NGO advising teachers and youth workers to lie to parents about their children’s gender and sexual orientation.
A complaint to the OCO, lodged in February of this year, notified the OCO that a handbook being used to train teachers and youth workers contained an explicit instruction for those professionals to lie to parents rather than ‘out’ a child. The complaint alleged that the handbook was “sent to schools around the country and BeLongTo claim in their promotional material to have delivered this training to hundreds of schools and thousands of children.”
In response, the complaints and investigations team of the OCO said that this advice did not constitute a child safeguarding issue and that the guidance “allows schools to act in the best interest of children and in conjunction with their parents and families, where appropriate to do so,”
The OCO response to the complaint explained their refusal to further examine the handbook by saying that “From an administrative perspective, a school’s engagement with children and young people is every day and constant. We do not consider that a guidance document to help schools support trans young people interferes with or impedes a school’s ongoing duty owed towards the welfare of children, including the responsibility arising under Children First Legislation,”
In response to a further complaint relating to accommodation shared by children during excursions, where BeLongTo advises that trans identified students be allowed to sleep among the gender they identify with eg. trans identifying male students being allowed to sleep in girl’s dorms, without permission being sought from parents or other students, the OCO said that Belongto’s advice is “in line with best practice and the Department of Education’s guidelines as outlined in its ‘Being LGBT in School’ resource for post-primary schools.”
The response continues that the complainant used the term ‘mixed sex’, “whereas the Belongto guide explains that trans+ young people should be permitted to participate in accordance with their gender identity.”
The OCO said it considers all organisations that interact with children and whose activities include additional supervisory responsibilities “have a duty of care towards them and should have child protection and safeguarding policies and practices which are appropriate,”
It emphasised that a child “who is transgender is not a child protection or welfare issue in of itself” and the general issue stated about the “potential or actual circumstances of trans young people participating in extra-curricular activities including overnight field trips are not safeguarding breaches and are not child protection or welfare issues,”
“In conclusion, we have determined our role in accordance with our legislation and our understanding of the complaint issues that you sought to raise,” it said.
Gript’s Ben Scallan asked Minister for Children Roderic O’Gorman if he was aware that his department was funding material which advises professionals to lie to parents about their children and if he agreed that the advice was appropriate.
Minister O’Gorman denied knowledge of the report saying that he couldn’t comment. Asked if in principle he thought it was appropriate for a state funded NGO to tell teachers to lie to parents about their children, the minister said he would have to understand the context of the advice in order to comment “even in a theoretical way”.
Irish Minister for Children Roderic O'Gorman refuses to say whether he supports State-funded NGOs encouraging teachers to lie to parents. Question by @Ben_Scallan #gript pic.twitter.com/kaXYZRBm7g
— gript (@griptmedia) September 26, 2023
Gript contacted the Ombudsman for Children asking on what grounds material that, in particular circumstances, advises professionals to lie to parents “allows schools to act in the best interests of children and in conjunction with their parents and families,”
We asked if the OCO stands over its determination that BeLongTo explicitly telling professionals to lie to parents about their children neither requires or warrants further examination by the OCO.
We also asked if the OCO had received any other complaints in relation to the issues raised in this article, and if the ombudsman had any general comment to make on the appropriateness of instructing teachers to lie to parents about these matters.
At the time of publication we have not been provided with a response but will update this piece should one be received.