Church leaders have expressed concern that a children’s charity is distributing condoms to teenagers as young as 13 at alcohol-fuelled parties in Lochore Meadows.
There were chaotic scenes at the country park last weekend when police were sent in to disperse more than 100 youngsters, following reports of an alleged assault on a teenage girl.
The next day parents found dozens of discarded condoms at a children’s play area, prompting complaints about the parties, thought to be organised by youngsters using mobile phones.
It has now emerged that youths are being offered contraceptives by The Zone, a Fife drugs and alcohol project which also helps young people ”feel comfortable about using condoms”.
The Rev Liz Stenhouse, of St Serf’s Church, which serves the area around the park, said: ”I don’t think condoms should be distributed randomly in a park where underage drinking is known to take place.
”If condoms are handed out to children, it should be after a one-to-one interview with the child. They should be offered counselling by specially trained NHS staff who should get to know the person and the circumstances and build up a relationship over time.
”I’m personally very concerned that children are contemplating having sexual relationships of any kind. It’s against the law. Children of that age are emotionally too young to understand and I have fears about them being exploited by older children.”
Lochgelly Baptist Church preacher Jon Magee also believes children should not be offered condoms.
”It’s a big concern,” he said. ”The circumstances around what’s been happening at Lochore Meadows would suggest the people receiving the condoms are not acting responsibly.
”We need to look at ways of educating young people about what’s responsible behaviour and what’s irresponsible behaviour. That should be our number one priority.”
Simone Ledraw, service manager at The Zone, said: ”Part of the service we offer is making young people feel comfortable about using condoms. When we started six years ago the kids saw it as a fun thing, but now they tend to take them for genuine reasons.”
Ms Ledraw admits that younger children often claim to be teenagers to obtain the free contraceptives.
”We don’t give them out to anyone under 13 years old because we’re not allowed to. But the younger kids started telling us they were teenagers so we introduced a system where they have to prove their age.”
Lochs councillor Willie Clarke said he doesn’t have an issue with The Zone offering condoms to teenagers, ”provided the young people are given advice,” but the politician said he can understand the concern.
”It could cause alarm about encouraging youngsters to have sex that’s one way of looking at it. And there could be a fear that condoms are given to youngsters of different age groups. If parents have an issue with it I’ll look at it,” he added.
Lochore Meadows is managed by Fife Council. Grant Ward, head of leisure and cultural services, said the charity should be permitted to hand out condoms in the park.
”It’s a public facility,” he said. ”The Zone has every right to operate there if that’s where a significant number of potentially ‘at risk’ young people are gathering, as they clearly were last Friday evening.”
Mr Ward added: ”Whilst a number of condoms were found in the country park, these were quickly removed by the estates team first thing on Saturday morning.”
Ms Ledraw said the littering is regrettable.
”We gave out loads and loads of condoms last weekend and maybe a dozen of them were discarded in the park,” she said. ”Whether they were used or not, that’s completely unacceptable, so we’re stopping distribution for a couple of weeks.
”We’ll pick it back up and begin distribution again once the message gets across that it’s unacceptable to leave condoms lying around the park.”