‘Mother’ and ‘Father’ Are Now ‘Parent 1’ and ‘Parent 2’ On Some Massachusetts Sports Registration Forms

Printed from: https://newbostonpost.com/2022/11/29/mother-and-father-are-now-parent-1-and-parent-2-on-some-massachusetts-sports-registration-forms/

If you are signing your child up to play a sport in Massachusetts, the form might not ask about your child’s mother and father. 

Instead, it may provide a gender-neutral option:   Parent 1 and Parent 2.

Belmont High School boys’ hockey is among the sports programs that ask its applicants for this information.

The freshman registration form on the Belmont High boys’ hockey web site asks for the name, email address, and cell phone number of Parent 1 and Parent 2.

Parent 1 and Parent 2 also show up on the registration form for Hadley CYO (Catholic Youth Organization) basketball; Hadley CYO basketball is organized by Most Holy Redeemer Church. Hadley CYO serves boys’ and girls’ basketball players in Grades 3 through 8 in the town of Hadley, in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield.

One of the registration forms that applicants must fill out is the “basketball emergency information and medical consent” form. It asks for the names and cell phone numbers of Parent 1 and Parent 2.

And this past summer, the same was true of various weeklong sports camps put on by the Attleboro Norton YMCA.

This included a soccer camp, flag football camp, golf camp, lacrosse camp, basketball camp, and track & field camp, among others; the camps primarily served children in Grades 2 through 7.

The registration form asked for the name, date of birth, address, city, state zip code, and email address of Parent 1 and Parent 2, as well as their relationship to the child and whether or not they’re authorized to pick up their child. 

Additionally, the form for those seeking financial assistance in paying for these camps asked for the “total gross wages per week” of Parent 1 and Parent 2.

 

Some state government forms in Massachusetts also use the terms “Parent 1” and “Parent 2.” They appear on the Massachusetts Registry of Vital Records form for registering at-home births; the Massachusetts Court System’s Juvenile Court Confidential Information Sheet; the petition to Massachusetts Probate and Family Court to resign as guardian of a minor; and the form to apply for state-subsidized child care from the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, as NewBostonPost has previously reported. Plus, some Massachusetts K-12 school districts use the terms “Parent 1” and “Parent 2” on their student registration forms.

Outside of Massachusetts, the use of “Parent 1” and “Parent 2” has been the subject of controversy in recent years. In France, public schools have been using the terms instead of mother and father since 2019, something conservatives in the country oppose.  And in Italy, the country replaced mother and father with these gender-neutral terms on its national identification cards for children under 14 years old in 2020.

Spokesmen for Belmont High School, Most Holy Redeemer Church, and the Attleboro Norton YMCA could not be reached for comment on Monday or Tuesday this week.

 

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