Elementary Level - Body Safety Program, Child Safety Matters

Elementary Body Safety Program Overview

Child Safety Matters is an evidence-based elementary body safety program that delivers age-appropriate curriculum to students in grades K-4, empowering them with essential self-protective skills against physical, verbal, and sexual abuse. Designed with developmentally progressive content that advances with students' cognitive growth, the program systematically educates children to recognize, resist, and report potentially threatening situations and unsafe individuals. The comprehensive curriculum extends beyond traditional safety education to include critical digital citizenship components, teaching students how to navigate safely in today's increasingly connected online environment. Through interactive, child-centered learning experiences, Child Safety Matters focuses exclusively on building foundational protective skills that enable young learners to identify unsafe situations, understand appropriate boundaries, and confidently seek help from trusted adults when needed, creating a vital foundation for lifelong personal safety awareness.

SECONDARY LEVEL - FRANCISCAN HEALTH PROJECT RESPECT CURRICULUM

Project RESPECT Program Overview

Project RESPECT (Reduce Early Sex and Pregnancy by Educating Children and Teens) is a comprehensive three-session abstinence education curriculum sponsored by Franciscan Health that directly aligns with Indiana Code 20-30-5-13, which requires schools providing human sexuality instruction to "teach abstinence from sexual activity outside of marriage as the expected standard for all school age children" and to "include in the instruction that abstinence from sexual activity is the only certain way to avoid out-of-wedlock pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, and other associated health problems."

The program serves grades 6-12 and systematically supports multiple Indiana Academic Standards for Health and Wellness, particularly Standard 1 (comprehending health promotion and disease prevention concepts), Standard 2 (analyzing influences of family, peers, and media on health behaviors), Standard 4 (interpersonal communication skills), Standard 5 (decision-making skills), and Standard 7 (practicing health-enhancing behaviors). Specifically, the curriculum addresses Standard 8.1.5, which states that "abstinence from sexual behaviors can prevent pregnancy, sexually transmitted infections and HIV/AIDS," and Standards 7.5.5 and 8.5.5, which examine the positive impact of abstaining from sexual activity on individuals and relationships.

Project RESPECT's developmentally appropriate, grade-specific modules covering puberty education, STI prevention, healthy relationships, peer pressure resistance, and goal-setting directly support Indiana's mandate that health education promote "health-enhancing behaviors" while teaching students to "avoid or reduce health risks" through evidence-based abstinence education that emphasizes personal responsibility, healthy communication, and informed decision-making skills essential for adolescent development.