Every October, Children’s Aid Societies across Ontario raise awareness about the important role that individuals and communities play in supporting vulnerable children, youth, and families through the provincial Dress Purple Day campaign. We want Ontarians to know that help is available.
Part of this message includes emphasizing the community’s responsibility to speak up for every child and youth’s right to safety and well-being in all spaces. Not just their physical safety and well-being, but also their right to have their intersectional identity, such as their culture, race, ability, sexual orientation, ability, gender identity, and gender expression protected and supported. This right extends to the home, at school, and in the community.
To support conversations among educators and other professionals working with young people, OACAS is pleased to share a new set of videos developed by Windsor-Essex Children’s Aid Society. The videos, featuring animated characters from Beastie Valley, are intended to accompany the existing set of prevention classroom resources, while also functioning as standalone assets to help adults teach children and youth about their rights and how to get help if they need it.
It is our collective responsibility to keep our community’s children safe and helping young people to build an understanding of their networks of support and how they can get help, can lessen their vulnerability to harm.
For now, the videos have been tailored to the grade 3 to 5 range, with adapted videos coming soon for the younger SK to grade 2 age group.
For more information, visit the Dress Purple Day landing page or find more details about the classroom resources here. All four Beastie Valley videos are available here, or you can watch Lesson 1 (Getting Help), Lesson 2 (Getting Touchy), Lesson 3 (Well-Being in the Community), and Lesson 4 (Getting Connected) on YouTube.
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