No body has the right too have a say or touch or act with our children but the parents or parent..We give Birth to our babie's...

A single mum..

Banjo

"I think the issue is about the rights of the parents. No privacy law should exist that gives a right for a child to keep matters from the parents."

I agree, in an ideal world, all children should feel comfortable enough with their parents to be able to discus with them issues such as contraception. But in reality, for whatever reason, many don't. I know I didn't with my parents and neither my son nor daughter did with me. Neither tried to hide it from me but they didn't go seeking my advice either and, though I guess it would have been nice if they had, in all honesty I wouldn't have expected it.

The issue of becoming sexually active for the first time is a very personal one and not all young people wish to broadcast their decision by asking their parents about buying contraception, no matter how good their relationship with their parents might be.

"If a medical professional(the school nurse) is of the opinion that the parents are not acting in the best interests of the child, DOCS should intervene. The parents should be notified."

I would agree with you on some issues, but not this particular one. If the student for whatever reason strongly wished that her parents not know she was sexually active, as I presume was the case in this instance, then I think the school would be abusing the trust placed in it by the student if it informed the parents against her wishes.

Schools walk a fine line on these issues. To some extent they're damned if they do and damned if they don't. My gut instinct is to trust the school and medical authorities here to have handled a difficult situation with care and sensitivity. Equally, I'd always treat TT's version of events with a healthy degree of scepticism.

The advice in Foxy's wonderful post about using this as a teaching moment and a time to communicate with your children is I think a great idea to take from this.

Bronwyn and Foxy,
I was rather hopeful that you would get back to me in relation to if your views would be different should the situation be about a different matter than contraception.

I too am sceptical about TTs slant on things and is why I sought advice on the law, from a medical professional.I also understand that it can be a very difficult time for both kids and parents. Kids may well find it easier to seek advice from a stranger than be embarrassed talking to their parents. However I agree with you about having good communications with the kids.

Specificly, in relation to contraception, I would be quite prepared for my daughter to take the pill if she wanted that. I am very aware of the intensity of young peoples sexuality. I may even be a bit envious that we did not have the same freedoms young people seem to have today.

Having said that, we may have to disagree on some things.

By giving kids the authority to say to medical professionals that they do not want their parents to know, of their ailment and/or treatment, is taking away the rights of parents. We expect parents to be responsible for many things in the raising of kids, surely they must have some rights as well. Or is the parents role simply to feed, clothe and finance the raising of kids.

The present law also instills in kids that it is OK to avoid taking responsibility for your own actions. When do we teach kids that one is responsible for ones own decisions. To avoid telling the parents about a medical situation is similar to lieing and we are making medicos party to this.What do kids say if the matter comes up in general conversation. Especially if the ailment is the result of something specific forbidden

I also wonder just who pays for the GPs consultation and the medication as apparently separate Medicare starts at age 16.

Just like the ruling in the case of the Hep2 vaccine, the parents should make the decisions for the kids.

Banjo

"Bronwyn and Foxy, I was rather hopeful that you would get back to me in relation to if your views would be different should the situation be about a different matter than contraception."

I don't see that as particularly relevant, Banjo. The case in question is about contraception afterall. I don't know all the ins and outs of the law etc as it relates to this situation, but personally I think you might be being a tad alarmist.

I think you should give the teaching and health professionals involved a little more credit. Even if they are able to legally send a student to a doctor without parental consent, my feeling is they would only do this on very rare occasions and I doubt very much the power would be abused. I'm also pretty confident its use would be confined to contraception matters, where I can actually see it being of value in certain cases.

I certainly wouldn't be jumping over TT's hoops as you're wanting us to without having all the facts available. Having said that, I'm glad you brought it to our attention. I'll definitely have more of an interest in it from now on as a result of this thread.

The health of a 14 year old should take precedent over the parents right to know. If you take away the child's right to privacy you'll NEVER get kids going to anyone for help.

Imagine the tragedy that has been avoided by the 'right to medical privacy'. This is one example of THOUSANDS we'll never hear about because of the privacy side of it.

At least she sort help. At least some was there FOR HER.

Yeah, it sucks the parents were kept out of the loop, and they should have a right to know. But at least their kid didn't come home pregnant at 14.

IF it saves lives, I'm for it. We've gotta trust someone at some stage. The school, the nurse, and the kid did the right thing, for a change.

With the way some are arguing, you can easily see the threat of State ownership of your child. If you do anything the State disagrees with, you can be assured it will act to remove your child or do what it will with it.

StG>"The health of a 14 year old should take precedent over the parents right to know."

Chilling.