PARENT SUPPORT PACK

Safe & Sound is a local Derby based charity that provides support to young people who are involved in or at risk of child exploitation , specialising in sexual exploitation a form of child sexual abuse that involves young people having their naivety, their curiosity, their vulnerabilities or their good nature exploited for the sexual gratification, or sometimes financial gain, of others.

They also support other types of exploitation including county lines, gangs, criminal exploitation and radicalisation.

Unfortunately we know that exploitation can happen to any child, from any background, in any community; this makes it difficult to target preventative work or identify which parents we should be advising about what risk. We know that some issues make young people more vulnerable than others, these include, amongst others, being missing from home, grooming, online safety, sexting; so we have decided to put together a small sample of the huge array of information and advice that is available to parents regarding these issues. We feel these represent a good taster for parents looking to support and protect their child with regards to these issues, but know that there is a huge amount of information available online for those who are able to search for it.

We have included leaflets from Derby and Derbyshire’s Safeguarding Children Board, whose websites contain details about exploitation and give advice on what to do if you have concerns about a child https://www.ddscp.org.uk/

We hope you find this information useful and a starting point for efforts to keep your child safe. We advise talking to your child about where they go and who they communicate with online as a good start to understanding their internet use so that you can help keep them safe.

Please feel free to download the zip file with useful resources in:

Derby City Parent Pack

Derbyshire CSE parent pack

SOME OF THE SITES WE WOULD RECOMMEND PARENTS/CARERS LOOK AT TO GAIN A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF THESE ISSUES INCLUDE:

NSPCC www.nspcc.org.uk

CEOP (Child Exploitation & Online Protection Centre) www.thinkuknow.co.uk

Net Aware www.net-aware.org.uk

PACE (Parents Against Child Exploitation) www.paceuk.info

UK Safer Internet Centre www.saferinternet.org.uk

Parent Zone www.parentzone.org.uk

If you have any worries about a child do not keep them to yourself, share your concerns with the relevant agencies.

A PARENT’S STORY

Joan and her husband adopted their daughter Lisa when she was four years old.  Born to parents who were heroin addicts, she had been severely neglected during her formative years.