At the beginning of this extraordinary year, I would have been the last person advocating online safeguarding training. Technology has never been my strong suit, and I have always viewed it as a necessary evil rather than an opportunity. And then Covid-19 hit. From April I found myself as a trainer getting to grips with …
A while ago I was delivering training and speaking with passion (I think) about a local Serious Case Review that had thrown up a number of insights. As I have said many times before, so much of my own continuing professional development is gained from reading Serious Case Reviews which tragically examine the death or …
‘Self-isolating and social distancing was a bad habit I worked really hard to get out of. Now I’m being made to do it and being told it’s the right thing to do. It’s very confusing and I’m scared of falling back in to that cycle.’Survey Respondent, Coronavirus: Impact on Young People with Mental Health Needs, …
“I want to die.” Rob and Claire Johnson’s daughter was screaming, hysterical and inconsolable. Ten-year-old Emily told them a boy at school had slapped her, hard, across the face: “I want to die. Nobody believes me. He’s hitting me and nobody believes me.” “We didn’t know what to do,” Rob tells me, his voice echoing …
‘I felt like whatever I was doing was worthless. Even if I did well in school, it wouldn’t matter to people because all they would care about is me being gay.’ ZOE, 12, SECONDARY SCHOOL PUPIL, ENGLAND* It’s February, LGBTQ+ history month, and a good time to think about the safeguarding of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender …
‘I don’t think my dad realises how many messages from random boys I get or how many dick pics I get. And I have to deal with it every day… it’s kind of like a normal thing for girls now’ – female pupil, 14 – from ‘Learning about online sexual harm’ Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual …
‘ I can see them out the flat window, see the officers walking around, thinking alright, these lot are looking for something, but they don’t know who I am, cos I’m not from around here. I’m walking around the corner to where the flat is. Outside that flat, there’s two TSG vans, two cars, sniffer …
The current definition of Safeguarding is inclusive, ambitious and broad. It is not a concept that is interchangeable with Child Protection, rather it includes Child Protection (this is one of the most common misconceptions we encounter in our work). Safeguarding includes any aspect of care or engagement of children and young people that enables them …
I have recently been commissioned to provide a Safeguarding refresher session which includes a section on Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE) – an important and disturbing topic which has made the headlines over the past few years. I think I have been drawn to the subject because of the number of disturbing cases which have been …
“I recently dealt with a case of a child who was of p6 [Scottish Year 5] age who sent an indecent image to another pupil who subsequently distributed this to the rest of the school. This was only discovered by myself when I overheard other pupils discussing this. We were faced with a difficult choice …
