Every Child in Arizona Deserves Safety  

Deborah Howard, candidate for Arizona State House in LD27.

A friend of mine once worked in a group home for girls under seventeen. Every one of them had been sexually abused by a family member or someone close to them.

These are the children that “leave it to parents”  policy of Representative Fink fails. Most child sexual abuse is committed by someone the child knows, so the adults a policy trusts to teach children about their bodies are sometimes the very adults those children need protection from.

Before being elected, Lisa Fink led the Protect Arizona Children Coalition, whose stated mission is to stop comprehensive sexuality education. This year she sponsored HB 2093 to repeal the state’s mental health education requirement, a law the Legislature passed with bipartisan votes in 2021. Her argument was that parents, not schools, should take charge. When a colleague asked how students without an engaged parent would get help, she had no clear answer.

I believe Representative Fink is sincere. But intent isn’t the test. The test is what happens to children whose home isn’t safe.

What happens at the Capitol touches every child in the state: what children are taught, which counselors they can turn to, and whether a survivor finds help or a closed door.

Here is what I will do differently. I will support age-appropriate lessons on body safety and boundaries, with parent notice and opt-out rights. I will protect mental health education and school counselors. And I will fight to strengthen survivor protections.

Children are never responsible for stopping the adults who harm them. That responsibility belongs to the systems that have the power to intervene. I’m running so that the child who has no one else to trust, has someone safe who will listen.

Deborah Howard

State Representative Candidate LD27