Although Paedophiles can be extremely skilled in disguising their
true motives there are a number of things you can do as a parent or
carer to protect children.
The very first thing is to 'talk' and 'listen' to your children.
Taking some time out on a regular basis to talk and listen to your
children is one of the most important preventative measures you can
take. Children who feel they can talk and be listened to are far
less likely to be susceptible to a paedophile's grooming tactics.
Encourage discussions with your children about personal safety
and especially
the difference between safe and unsafe secrets. Personal safety for
your children is a skill learned just like any other, for example
crossing the road or learning the school fire drill.
Stranger Danger Myths
The myth of "Stranger Danger" is a phrase we have all grown up
with and subscribed to. In the UK in the
Public Service Advert for Charlie the talking cat ran from 1973,
and taught children about the dangers of going with strangers.
Charley the cat was voiced by late DJ and
TV personality, Kenny Everett.
Well intentioned adults use the "Stranger Danger" misguided
message and the media often use it as a slogan.
Myth: Most child sex offenders
target children who are unknown to them and are located in public
places.
25% of children and young people surveyed said they had met up in
the offline world with someone with whom they had made initial
contact online. (based on a partial sample of 6000 respondents)
source: CEOPS
Bullying has taken on a whole new concept
with the advent of the digital age and almost 35% of children in a
recent survey said they had been subjected to cyber bullying.
In January 2007 it
was revealed that a number of British nationals who had been
convicted of crimes abroad, including 29 for child sex offences, had
not had their information added to the UK Police National Computer.
This posed a potential risk to children as information about these
crimes was not accessible to employers to be taken into account in
recruitment decisions. source:
Briefing from the NSPCC, February 2007
Kidshield Educational Tools
Kidshield's Child Safety Campaigners believe that the key to
ensuring that our children are safe is to firstly educate our
adults. That means that our educational system and parents
need to work together to ensure that
child safety education is a top priority.
Parents and
guardians are, in most cases, in a privileged position to guide
children to recognise the signs of danger and equip them with the
personal safety tools to prevent it.
Kidshield have developed a range of
educational tools designed to empower adults with the practical
skills needed to communicate both online and offline personal
safety to young children and teens. We believe that teaching
children about safety is best achieved if it is done in a way that
is fun and not scary, children are more likely to become anxious or
resistant if personal safety messages are delivered in the wrong
manner .Kidshield
Educational Tools
Parents Need to Take the Lead in Child
Protection
Never take anything for granted when it comes to your Child Safety. In 2006 UK Ofsted inspectors found that
hardly any of the 58 schools it looked at took "even the simplest of
measures in terms of record keeping". The inspectors found that most
schools believed local authorities had been carrying out criminal
records checks. Most had not checked whether staff were who they
claimed to be, had the qualifications they said they had or even if
they had a criminal record.
Under the new guidance, schools and colleges have been issued
with much clearer guidelines on their responsibilities. With
effect from January 2007 schools and colleges will have to
keep a record of all the checks they make, including ID checks,
qualification requirements and Criminal Record Bureau checks.
Education inspectors had been asked by previous education secretary
Ruth Kelly to look at the issue after it emerged that dozens of sex
offenders had been cleared by ministers to work with children.
Nearly a third of young people have received unwanted sexual
comment online or by text.
Just 7% of parents know their child has been
subjected to such material. 4.2 million websites
contain indecent images 100,000 websites contain indecent
images of children
Megans Law was signed by President Bill Clinton in 1997 and has
since been adopted in some form by all 50 US states. It arose from
the rape and murder of seven-year-old Megan Kanka. She was killed by
Jesse Timmendequas, a known child molester with two previous
convictions for sexual offences.
In recent years, the Internet has become increasingly accessible
to children and young people, both at home and in schools. As
of June 2006, 59% of UK adults have internet access in their home
(source: Ofcom ) and 100% of
UK schools have access as of January 2007.
