Two Nottingham companies have joined forces to help a local charity raise awareness of the dangers facing children and young people of child exploitation. Creationz Marketing in Beeston and web design company Little Black Dog in Victoria Embankment have developed a new website for Safe and Sound.
The charity supports children and young people across Derbyshire who are victims of or at risk of child exploitation including sexual exploitation, County Lines, Modern Slavery, trafficking and radicalisation. Safe and Sound also supports the wider family and raises awareness of the dangers facing young people in local communities. The new website www.safeandsoundgroup.org.uk includes information and resources for professionals working with young people, parents and young people themselves and incorporates a new live chat facility to enable easier access to the charity’s specialist support team.
Safe and Sound chief executive Tracy Harrison explained: “Our case load increased by over 50% in 2020 largely since the start of the pandemic – brought about by young people being socially isolated and therefore particularly vulnerable to online grooming. “It was therefore important to have a well-designed and user-friendly website with a wealth of resources that can be easily accessed by professionals, families and young people
themselves and to raise awareness of the dangers facing young people in our local communities. “It has also given us a platform to better engage with the individuals, businesses, organisations and funders whose support is vital to enable us to work with children as young as seven and their families.
“Child exploitation is not an easy subject to talk about and many young people and their families are actually not aware that they are being targeted by perpetrators – believing that so-called relationships are real. “The truth is that many relationships – particularly online – are far from healthy. Our message across social media channels throughout the past year has therefore been the importance of robust privacy settings. “We are extremely grateful to both Little Black Dog and Creationz for their support in developing this new website and look forward to continuing to work with them in the future.” Claire Taylor is the founder and managing director of Creationz – which provides ongoing digital marketing and social media support for Safe and Sound. She said: “Having achieved our objectives to increase engagement and raise greater awareness of child exploitation across Safe and Sound’s social media channels – we identified the urgent need for a new website to enable it to share important information and resources with stakeholders and the wider general public. “I approached Helena at Little Black Dog to help the charity achieve its goal and am delighted with the results.” Helena Illingworth, owner of Little Black Dog, concluded: “As a small company specialising in creating great looking and affordable websites, we have the flexibility to support charities and causes that we believe in.
“Working on the Safe and Sound website has certainly opened my eyes to the dangers facing young people in our local communities and I hope that our input will go some way to protecting many more children and their families in the future.
For more information about Safe and Sound and how to support the work it does, please visit https://safeandsoundgroup.org.uk/
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Media enquiries: Sarah Jenkin-Jones, JJPR, Tel: 01332 515102/07951 945665; [email protected]
About Safe and Sound
Formed in 2002, Safe and Sound is an inspiring Derbyshire charity that transforms young lives affected by child exploitation with innovative, hands-on programmes. The charity works at grass root levels delivering individual support to each child as well as families and carers. This vital support enables them to move not just to a place of safety, but emerge unshackled and undefined by their experience and enabled to reach their full potential.
The charity continues to specialise in child sexual exploitation and is now developing its services to support children and young people facing or at risk of wider exploitation which are often interlinked. These include physical and emotional violence, neglect, modern-day slavery, radicalisation and human trafficking, domestic abuse, missing episodes and County Lines. Safe and Sound is led by former police superintendent Tracy Harrison with the support of a specialist team; an experienced board of Trustees and now a team of Ambassadors who are helping to raise the profile of the charity and the issue of child exploitation.
Safe and Sound’s expertise came to the fore during the 2010 landmark case – Operation Retriever – which was Derby’s first prosecution for child sexual exploitation and abuse. The charity’s specialist
team supported every young person affected by the criminal actions of 13 defendants who were jailed in total for up to 22 years for 70 offences. For more information about child exploitation, Safe and Sound Derby and how to support their work, please visit www.safeandsoundgroup.org.uk