SECTIONS 18976-18976.5 - California Statutes

WELFARE AND INSTITUTIONS CODE

SECTION 18976-18976.5

18976. A primary prevention program shall include all of the
following:
(a) Parent, teacher, and children's workshops which provide all of
the following:
(1) Information, provided in a clear, age-appropriate,
nonthreatening manner, delineating the problem and the range of
possible solutions.
(2) Workshops which are culturally and linguistically appropriate
to the population served and which are staffed by people with
cultural and linguistic backgrounds representing the diversity of the
population in the service area.
(3) Workshops which are appropriate to the geographic area served.
(4) Workshops which are designed to help counteract common
stereotypes about victims and offenders.
(b) Parent and school staff workshops presented prior to the
presentation of children's workshops, which include information and
training concerning all of the following:
(1) Physical and behavioral indicators of abuse.
(2) Postworkshop session techniques.
(3) Community resources.
(4) Rights and responsibilities regarding reporting.
(5) School district procedures to facilitate reporting and apprise
supervisors and administrators of reports.
(6) Caring for a child's needs after a report is made.
(c) Children's workshops shall contain information and training
concerning all of the following:
(1) The right of every child to live free of abuse.
(2) How to disclose incidents of abuse.
(3) The availability of support resources and how to obtain help.
(4) Child safety training and age-appropriate self-defense
techniques.
(5) A period for postworkshop sessions in a school setting which
maximizes the child's privacy and sense of safety and provide a
period of time following each child's workshop, or a reasonable time
thereafter, for any child who on a voluntary basis may want to
individually talk with classroom presenters. Reports and referrals to
appropriate child protective services agencies shall be made
pursuant to state law. These sessions shall not provide any therapy
or other forms of treatment.

18976.1. For the purposes of program effectiveness, it is the
intent of the Legislature that children's workshops, in general, be
delivered to classroom-size, or smaller, groups of children. It is
further the intent of the Legislature that, in general, when services
are delivered to a particular school, they be delivered throughout
the school as a whole, with the exception that services may be
delivered to kindergarten or special education classes, without
necessarily delivering services to the entire school.

18976.5. Parents shall be given notice of, and may refuse to have
their children participate in, a primary prevention program.