Thaindian News

London, April 24 (ANI): A charity has earned itself the ire of a mother after it offered condoms to her daughter and eight-year-old nephew, as part of a safe sex campaign.

Samantha Fuller only discovered what had happened when she found a stash of condoms in her 13-year-old daughter’s bedroom.

Taxpayer-funded charity health workers, who hand out condoms on park bushes for homosexuals who meet for public sex, spotted the children playing and began handing out the contraceptives.

Fuller, 38, who said the incident totally undermined her role as a parent, said her nephew was also in the park in Beverley, East Yorks, at the time the condoms were offered, but he refused to take them as he had “no idea what they were”.

“My daughter’s sexual health is my responsibility. It’s not that of a stranger giving out condoms,” the Daily Express quoted her as saying.

“I feel she is being encouraged to have sex and she is being encouraged to be deceitful.

“It’s not right. I was fuming when I found out she has access to condoms without me knowing about it,” she stated.

The contraceptives had been handed out by outreach workers from the Yorkshire Cornerhouse project and East Riding Youth Service during a visit to public spaces in Beverley.

Cornerhouse, formerly known as Aids Action, receives the vast majority of its funding from local authorities.

They confirmed they handed out condoms but insisted they were only offered to children over the age of 13.

Fuller, who has lodged a formal complaint, wants parents to know children are being given condoms on the streets without being asked for proof of age or identity.

“This person said ‘We are handing out free condoms if you are interested’,” she said.

“My nephew, who’s eight years old, was offered them at the park,” she revealed.

Fuller said her daughter is not sexually active but had taken the condoms from the health workers “for a laugh”.

“I am not opposed to sexual education but as parents we need to know what services are available so if our children come to us we can say ‘If you don’t feel comfortable speaking to me you can go here or there’,” she said.

“She’s my daughter - she’s not the Government’s daughter, the council’s daughter or the youth centre’s daughter.

“They will not care about my daughter if anything happens. It’s my responsibility,” she stated.

The staff at the Yorkshire Cornerhouse project said chief executive Tish Lamb was unavailable to speak.

But in a statement she said: “The idea of street-based projects is to enable people who maybe don’t have access to mainstream services having access to support, advice and anything they might need to know about sexual well-being.”

East Riding Youth Service manager Jackie Brewis responded to the complaint and said: “Whilst also encouraging young people to delay sex and speak to their parents and carers, we also have a responsibility to offer them confidential advice and support with the aim of reducing teenage pregnancy.” (ANI)