New sex education campaign aimed at parents

By CARYN GRANT
Associated Press Writer

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Federal officials on Thursday announced a campaign to urge parents to talk to their children about waiting until marriage to have sex.

The Department of Health and Human Services introduced the Parents Speak Up National Campaign at an event in Kansas City.

“During my time as a pediatrician and a public health official, I’ve learned that parents often need additional tools when dealing with tough issues facing their children,” said Dr. John Agwunobi, assistant secretary for health. “There are few issues tougher or more important to discuss than sex.”

The campaign, which will receive $8.5 million a year, includes television, radio and print public service announcements, and a Web site to help parents initiate the discussion, said Dan Schneider, acting assistant secretary for the administration for children and parents.

It has received a commitment to run for two years, but could last as long as three.

Some of the television segments are aimed at general audiences, while others are geared mainly toward black and Hispanic audiences, Schneider said. They feature children telling parents, “We need to talk.”

The advertisements, targeted at parents of children ages 10 to 13, will start airing around the start of the school year.

Catherine Brown, a mother of six from Kansas City who was at the news conference to help present the campaign, said everything children are exposed to tells them not to wait.

“It’s time for us to come back, take our place and become role models to our children once again,” Brown said.

Organizations such as Planned Parenthood have opposed abstinence-only programs, but Schneider doesn’t believe this is a controversial approach.

“Encouraging parents to speak to their children about sex and share their values so that kids can make informed decisions and know the facts,” he said. “That is something that I hope everybody can support.”

The Planned Parenthood national office referred calls to its Kansas and Mid-Missouri affiliate, where a spokeswoman hadn’t returned calls from The Associated Press seeking comment.

Research has shown that children want to hear from their parents about sex, Schneider said.

The program is supplying the tools to encourage “parents if they are worried about how to go about having conversations with their children,” Agwunobi said.

In addition to the advertisements, the campaign has joined with three national community outreach centers that will focus on raising awareness of the campaign in the black, Hispanic and American Indian communities.

The Kansas City-based Future Leaders Outreach Network will serve as outreach center for blacks, said Executive Director Diana Clemons.

On the Net:

http://www.4parents.gov

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