KIDZ Have Rights
KIDZ Have Rights—Your Body Belongs to You
Teaching children to protect themselves from child sexual abuse
New brain imaging surveys and other experiments have shown that child abuse [including sexual abuse] can cause permanent damage to the neural structure and function of the developing brain itself ... This grim result suggests that much more effort must be made to prevent childhood abuse and neglect before it does irrevocable harm to millions of young victims.
Teicher, Martin H. "Wounds that Time Won’t Heal" presented on www.annafoundation.org. © Scientific American, Mar2002, Vol. 286, Issue 3, p68, 8p, 7c.
KIDZ Have Rights—Your Body Belongs to You is a body-safety program provided to children in third grade throughout the Grand Rapids Public Schools and the Kent Intermediate School District. The program provides third graders with the tools they need to say NO! to unwanted or uncomfortable touches (including hugs, kisses, and more threatening touches). It also gives them the courage they need to speak out if they or someone they know is currently being sexually abused. Since its inception in 2004, more than 8,000 children have received these vital tools. It is estimated that more than 3,000 children will be reached again during the current school year.
With a curriculum developed and regularly evaluated by the Body Safety Steering Committee, whose members include the Children’s Assessment Center, KISD and GRPS representatives, the Health Department-Sexual Assault Prevention Action Team, the Child Protection Team at DeVos Children’s Hospital, the YMCA, and others, KIDZ Have Rights helps children understand touches and leads them through identifying three safe adults they could tell if they were ever touched inappropriately—by a stranger, an adult, or another child. Students are given reinforcement packets to take home and work on with their families, and all participants receive a special KIDZ Have Rights wristband.
For additional information or to present the program to your school’s administrator, please review and print the KIDZ Have Rights brochure. 
Feedback from Parents and Teachers
KIDZ Have Rights presentations
Total numbers of students served:
- 2004-2005: 108
- 2005-2006: 1384
- 2006-2007: 3224
Ethnic breakdown for our current year: 2006-2007
- African American: 33%
- Asian: 2%
- Caucasian: 43%
- Hispanic: 21%
- Native American: <1%
- Other: <1%
KIDZ Have Rights is presented free of charge to any school who requests the program, and it is largely grant funded. There are opportunities for individuals and businesses to partner with this essential program, making it available to even more students in public and private schools throughout Kent County. To support KIDZ Have Rights—Your Body Belongs to You, contact Beka McDowell .
KIDZ Have Rights is available to any school in Kent Intermediate School District. Check with your child’s principal to see what body-safety program is offered in your school. If you don’t find one, KIDZ Have Rights is here for you! To schedule a KIDZ Have Rights—Your Body Belongs to You presentation at your school, contact Tanya Muehlbauer.
KIDZ Have Rights—Your Body Belongs to You in Kent County is generously sponsored by
- The Amos Fund
- Chick Run Association
- Individuals like you!
2007-2008 materials provided by
A special thank you to our founding sponsor Baldwin Foundation. The Body Safety Steering Team would also like to thank Printing Arts Company for their generous printing of many of the KIDZ Have Rights materials and Southpaw Design for contributing graphic design.