Teen Dating Violence Prevention

Teen Dating Violence is a pattern of emotional, verbal, sexual, or physical abuse used by one person in a current or past dating relationship to exert power and control over another when one or both of the partners is a teenager. Abuse may include insults, coercion, social sabotage, sexual harassment, stalking, threats and/or acts of physical or sexual abuse. The abusive partner uses this pattern of violent and coercive behavior to gain power and maintain control over the dating partner. This may also include abuse, harassment, and stalking via electronic devices such as cell phones and computers, and harassment through a third party, and may be physical, mental, or both.

In Teen Dating Violence relationships, there are Three Important Roles:

• The Abuser - A person who physically, sexually, verbally or emotionally hurts a dating partner.
• The Victim - A person who is hurt physically, sexually, verbally or emotionally by a dating partner.
• The Bystander- A person who is aware that someone is being abused in a dating relationship. The bystander may become aware of the abuse through the abuser's or target's actions or words, or through second-hand information.

Statute & Rules:

Florida Statute 1006.148, requires school districts to adopt and implement a policy prohibiting dating violence and abuse by any student on school property, during a school sponsored activity, or during school-sponsored transportation, and providing procedures for responding to such incidents of dating violence or abuse, including accommodations for students experiencing dating violence or abuse.

Florida Statute 1006.148 also requires each school district to provide training for teachers, faculty, staff, and school administrators to implement the dating violence and abuse policies.

Additionally, Florida Statute 1003.42 requires that a teen dating violence and abuse component must be added to the comprehensive health education curriculum for students in grades 7 through 12.

Important links:

• Florida's Law (S. 1006.148, F.S.)
• Florida's Law (S. 1003.42, F.S.)
• FDOE's Model Policy (PDF, 62KB)
• FDOE Memorandum and Policy Requirements (PDF, 53KB)

Resources:

The Florida Coalition Against Domestic Violence (FCADV) serves as the professional association for Florida’s 42 domestic violence centers.  The mission of FCADV is to work towards ending violence through public awareness, policy development, and support for Florida’s domestic violence centers. 

The Florida Department of Education partnered with FCADV to develop resource curricula, including supplementary materials and teacher training, addressing teen dating violence for grades 7 through 12 to satisfy the requirements of Florida Statutes 1006.148 and 1003.42.

The resource curricula were designed to address the core components required by the statute, including:

• The definition of dating violence and abuse,
• warning signs of dating violence and abusive behavior,
• characteristics of healthy relationships, measures to prevent and stop dating violence, and
• community resources available to victims of dating violence and abuse.

The teen dating violence prevention curricula are designed for educators to use with seventh through twelfth grade students in a classroom setting. Included below are resource curricula for three age groupings, supplementary materials and teacher training modules to support implementation of the curricula.

Prior to implementation, it is recommended that you read the Introduction for the curriculum you plan to implement in its entirety. In addition, facilitators are encouraged to participate in facilitator training. If you’d like more information about training on domestic and dating violence or technical assistance for facilitating this curriculum, please contact your local certified domestic violence center or email prevention@fcadv.org. Please visit http://www.fcadv.org/centers/local-centers to find a comprehensive list of Florida’s domestic violence centers. 

Web-based training modules are accessible below. The web-based Facilitator Training Modules will provide:

• Foundational understanding of teen dating violence,
• Tools for facilitators to respond to teen dating violence,
• The theory applied in developing the resource curricula, and
• Resources facilitators may access for additional information on teen dating violence prevention and intervention.

Web-Based Training Modules

Introduction: http://cc.readytalk.com/play?id=cubyef  

Creating Change Module One: Background, objectives and the case for prevention: http://cc.readytalk.com/play?id=6cfq57  

Creating Change Module Two: Teen dating violence facts and dynamics: http://cc.readytalk.com/play?id=a51l8d  

Creating Change Module Three: Responding to teen dating violence, promoting safety for survivors: http://cc.readytalk.com/play?id=4a89lk  

Creating Change Module Four: Prevention and intervention, working together: http://cc.readytalk.com/play?id=2f5uvq  

Creating Change Module Five: What's your role? - Engaging teens and parents in education and prevention: http://cc.readytalk.com/play?id=3h9bhy  

Teen Dating Violence Curricula 

It is important to note that this curriculum was created to address fundamental concepts related to dating violence prevention with the understanding that the facilitator may not have an in-depth knowledge of IPV prevention. However, facilitators are encouraged to adapt the curriculum to meet the needs of students. If activities or discussions are too advanced, you are invited to adapt the content as appropriate. Likewise, if you or your students are more advanced in your understanding of certain content areas, you are encouraged to make revisions to the curriculum to meet your needs. For additional curriculum resources, please contact your local certified domestic violence center [http://www.fcadv.org/centers/local-centers] or email FCADV’s Prevention Program at prevention@fcadv.org.

Curricula Introduction     Introduction

7^th and 8^th Grade Curriculum     Modules.pdf 

9^th and 10^th Grade Curriculum     Modules.pdf

11^th and 12^th Grade Curriculum     Modules.pdf

Additional Resources:

Dating Matters is a free, online course available to educators, school personnel, youth leaders, and others working to improve the health of teens.  It features interviews with leading experts, dynamic graphics and interactive exercises, and compelling storytelling to describe what teen dating violence is and how to prevent it.   http://vetoviolence.cdc.gov/datingmatters/