Jenna's Law
Jenna's Law (Texas: Tex. Educ. Code § 38.0041; 2009 HB 1041; 2009 Tex. Gen. Laws, Chap. 1115)[1] is a Texas law which mandates that all public schools, charter schools, and day care facilities train school aged children K-12, staff, and parents on the signs and symptoms of all forms of child abuse.
It is the first child sexual abuse prevention and education law named after a survivor that passed in the United States. The National Children's Alliance published an article about the history of Jenna's Law and its extension to address trafficking victims.[2]
In Texas, training resulting from Jenna's Law has helped to increase reports of child sexual abuse.[3]
Jenna Quinn, the survivor whom the law was named after, talked about her experiences in her 2017 TED talk.[4]
Jenna's experiences are documented in her book, Pure In Heart: A Memoir of Overcoming Abuse and Passing Jenna’s Law.[5]
Background
[edit]Working with Quinn, Texas Representative Tan Parker introduced Jenna's Law as HB 1041 in 2009. Jenna's Law passed the State House unanimously on May 7, 2009 and became effective on June 19, 2009.[6]
Later, Parker and Quinn worked to expand and strengthen Jenna's Law with the passage of HB 1114. This amendment to Jenna's Law passed unanimously on May 3, 2011 and mandates that research-based training is used to train students, all staff, and parents at all public schools, charter schools, day care centers, foster care centers, child placing agencies on all forms of abuse annually.[1]
References
[edit]- ^ a b "81(R) HB 1041 - Enrolled version - Bill Text". capitol.texas.gov.
- ^ "Extending Jenna's Law to Trafficking Victims | National Children's Alliance". Archived from the original on 2017-10-07. Retrieved 2017-07-13.
- ^ Havil, Lyndon (March 1, 2016). "Protecting Children from Sexual Abuse: Texas Serves As a Model". Youth Today.
- ^ "My Story of Surviving Sexual Abuse & How To Prevent this Silent Killer | Jenna Quinn | TEDxUTD". May 16, 2017 – via YouTube.
- ^ Quinn, Jenna (18 January 2017). Pure In Heart: A Memoir of Overcoming Abuse and Passing Jenna's Law: Jenna Quinn: 9780692738726: Amazon.com: Books. Liberty House. ISBN 978-0692738726.
- ^ "Sex abuse survivor shares tale of despair". San Antonio Express-News. 27 April 2012.