Concerns have been raised by the Charity Commission regarding “Mermaids’ approach to safeguarding youth.”
Mermaids are being investigated for allegedly offering chest binders to underage girls against the desires of their parents.
Concerns have been raised regarding its “strategy to safeguarding children,” according to a Charity Commission spokesperson.
She continued, “We have initiated a regulatory compliance case and written to the trustees.”
Now we await their response.
The Telegraph reports that Mermaids offered to deliver a breast-flattening gadget to a 14-year-old girl.
It allegedly occurred “even after (Mermaids) were instructed by her mother that she was not permitted to use one,” according to the publication.
According to the Metropolitan Police, breast binding can result in “severe physical difficulties,” such as cysts and tissue damage.
It adds on its website, “Although there is no specific regulation regarding breast ironing in the United Kingdom, it is a kind of child abuse.”
In her initial report, Dr. Hilary Cass, who is leading a study of gender identity services for children and adolescents, stated that breast binding can be “painful and perhaps hazardous.”
Transgender Trend, an organization “concerned about the present trend to diagnose children as transgender,” tweeted, “Finally, parents’ concerns over Mermaids’ advocacy of binders and (puberty) blockers have been heard.
The Telegraph said that Mermaids’ online assistance center informs adolescents that hormone-blocking medicines are safe and “completely reversible.”
In a statement, Mermaids defined puberty blockers as “an internationally established, safe, reversible healthcare alternative that has been advised by the UK and worldwide medical authorities for decades.
On its website, the NHS states, “Little is known about the long-term adverse consequences of hormone or puberty blockers in children with gender dysphoria.”
Although GIDS (NHS Gender Identity Development Service) says that this treatment is medically reversible if discontinued, the psychological effects are unknown.
The NHS has announced the closure of the Tavistock & Portman NHS Foundation Trust’s gender identification clinic for children and adolescents in north London.
Allegations that the trust “rushed” certain young patients into treatment, including the use of puberty-blocking medicines, have since surfaced.
Mermaids issued a statement in reaction to The Telegraph’s article stating that “binding, for some, can alleviate distress” for those with body dysphoria.
Mermaids believe that giving a young person a binder and extensive safety advice from an experienced staff member is preferable to the likely alternative of dangerous behaviors and/or continued or worsening dysphoria.
The danger is evaluated by Mermaid personnel within the context of our protection system.
