Saturday, February 13, 2010

Florida Dept. of Children and Families Visits Sunsport Gardens

Morley Schloss reports in the latest Naturist Action Committee newsletter:
In mid-January 2010, a social worker from the Florida State Department of Children and Families (DCF) and a police officer arrived at Sunsport Gardens Family Naturist Resort, located in Loxahatchee. An unknown person had contacted DCF reporting that Sunsport had inappropriate photos of nude children on its website, including a photo of children covered with food. As I understand it, any time such a complaint is filed, DCF is required to follow up with a site visit.
Morley reports that he talked to the visitors, who were friendly, showing them photos from the Sunsport Youth Camps. They were apparently satisfied that the children were having fun and that the photos were not a problem. Morley goes on to say:
I believe that it is important to show nude children having fun. Too many people believe that naturist activities should only be for adults, and reluctance to use nude children in photos reinforces that dangerous belief.
The next Naturist Society Youth Camp at Sunsport is scheduled for July 18-25, 2010.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have two opinions about this situation.

1. I'm glad that the authorities are watching out for the safety of the children. I understand the overreaction of the police and family services.

2. But also I'm concerned about what this does to your lifestyle. Should all us REAL naturist be fearful of a visit from the authorities for having nude images on our blog??

Brain said...

There's no need to be fearful of a visit from authorities if you're not doing anything wrong.

This statement is not meant to imply that I support Big Brother style surveillance by the "authorities"; but rather that we do need a certain level of law enforcement activity, and as you say, when concerns are raised, it is better to err on the side of caution than to not.

Where I see the real problem is at the "when concerns are raised" stage. If society were more sensible about nudity - for both adults and children - this incident would never have occurred.