TEEN DATING VIOLENCE IS A NATIONAL BUT SILENT EPIDEMIC.

•Nearly 1.5 million high school students nationwide experience physical abuse from a dating partner in a single year.

•Only 33% of teens who were in a violent relationship ever told anyone about the abuse.

To break this cycle of dating violence, students need to know how to identify the warning signs of verbal, physical, and sexual abuse, and where to get help if they find themselves or a friend in an abusive situation.

Sign the petition and let the NC General Assembly know that our schools need teen dating violence prevention education. The goal of Promote SADA is to pass a Teen Dating Violence Prevention bill in North Carolina, which would require NC public high schools to include teen dating violence prevention (TDVP) education in the health curriculum. TDVP education is life-saving,  and will incur little to no additional costs to the NC school systems.

Around the country, many states have begun to mandate TDVP education in response to tragic, unnecessary teen dating violence deaths. 

  -It took the tragic murder of Lindsay Ann Burke for Rhode Island to pass the Lindsay Ann Burke Act in 2007, mandating TDVP education in public schools.

-It took the tragic murders of 15 year old Ortralla Mosley and 18 year old Jennifer Ann Crecente for Texas to pass a bill in 2007, requiring Texas school districts to implement TDV policies and education for their students.

-It took the tragic murders of Tiffany Barwick and Michael Ruschack at the hands of Barwick's ex-boyfriend for Florida to enact the Barwick/Ruschak Act in 2010, mandating TDVP education in all Florida public schools.

WE CANNOT WAIT FOR A TDV TRAGEDY TO BEGIN MANDATING TDVP EDUCATION IN OUR NORTH CAROLINA SCHOOLS.

Let's end this epidemic.

We need YOUR help and support in the fight against teen dating violence. Please sign this petition, pass it along, and let your NC Representatives and Senators know that we NEED Teen Dating Violence Prevention Education for our young adults.