Child Abuse Prevention Association outlines "Play It Safe" curriculum; committee discusses reporting, delivery and next steps

The Child Abuse Prevention Association (CAPA) presented the "Play It Safe" abuse-prevention curriculum to the Beaufort County Health Advisory Committee on Feb. 24, describing the program as an evidence-based, age-appropriate series of lessons that the presenter said has been used in the district since about 2015 and is state-approved.

"Play It Safe is an abuse prevention curriculum that does that," the presenter said, describing a structure that begins with simple, animated lessons in pre-K and progressively introduces live-action content and more advanced topics (bullying prevention, sexting) by fifth and sixth grades. The presenter said the curriculum includes repeated safety steps and that CAPA tracks outcomes through pretests and posttests and a performance-quality improvement program.

Committee members pressed CAPA on how disclosures are handled. CAPA said that if a CAPA employee is told about an issue, staff bring in the pre-identified school counselor or district personnel and that CAPA staff also comply with mandated-reporter statutes: "If a CAPA employee is told they go get the school counselor or whoever was pre-identified by the schools... that does not relieve our employees of the mandated reporter statute," the presenter said.

Members asked whether sessions are delivered in single-sex or coed formats; CAPA said lessons are delivered coed at all ages but that the organization remains open to suggestions and evaluates lessons with teacher feedback after each session.

The committee also discussed related statutes and guidance. Presenters reported that Aaron's Law material has been vetted and that the state issued a memo (dated in the transcript as 11/14/2024) listing approved curricula and providers. On Gavin's Law, CAPA cautioned the statute is "a little bit tricky" and that incorporation of Gavin's Law into curricula may require district-level interpretation because the statute's drafting is not yet tightly specified.

Why this matters: the curriculum is intended to give students recurring, age-appropriate instruction on recognizing unsafe situations and how to report them; the committee sought clarity on mandated-reporting pathways and how the curriculum aligns to recent state statutes.

Next steps: CAPA will be invited back to answer follow-up questions; the committee requested that other providers covering older students (identified in the meeting as Hopeful Horizons) present in a future session. No formal vote or adoption took place at the Feb. 24 meeting.