Derbyshire’s specialist child exploitation charity, Safe and Sound, is forging ahead with plans to create a safe place in Derby city centre for young people and families where they can engage with an expanded range of support services and activities to help them re-build their lives.
The charity has secured the purchase of 8 Bold Lane, a former restaurant in Derby’s Cathedral Quarter, which will enable the specialist team to support more young people and families and provide a broader range of services. The charity will also make space available for other charities and organisations to deliver their services.
Safe and Sound works with children as young as seven, young people and their families across Derbyshire whose lives have been affected by child exploitation including online grooming, sexual exploitation, County Lines, trafficking, modern slavery and radicalisation.
The charity is currently based in rented offices in Darley Abbey and rents further space for activity and therapy work.
Thanks to £250,000 funding from the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities’ Community Ownership Fund, plans are now being drawn up for the restoration and refurbishment work required to make the three-storey building fit for purpose. Work is due to start imminently and take around six months to complete.
The vision is to provide safe and welcoming ground-floor space for a community hub and a wide range of activities delivered by both Safe and Sound and other youth and family-focused organisations including YMCA, Derby County Community Trust and Umbrella.
The flexibility of the space will enable activities and therapies to be expanded ranging from arts and crafts and music to drama and sport.
The other two floors will include space for 121 and group support, meetings and workshops as well as office accommodation for Safe and Sound’s team and volunteers who are based there.
Fundraising for equipment and specialist facilities will continue under the charity’s Butterfly Appeal banner with the first donations secured including the donation of office equipment from Geldards solicitors and a £4,299 grant from Toyota Manufacturing UK to pay for youth activities equipment at the centre.
Last year, Safe and Sound supported a record 343 children and young people who had been victims of or at risk of child exploitation. The charity largely works with 7-18 year olds but includes up to 25 if there are special educational needs and or disability (SEND) issues or children leaving care.
The charity works with boys and girls. Around 30% of the young people have SEND and 29% did not identify as White British. Workers also regularly support young people who identify as gay, non-binary and trans.
Safe and Sound offers a range of innovative, hands-on programmes to help young people understand what has happened to them, rebuild their confidence and move onto a place of emotional safety, protected from further harm.
Support services include:
– 121 and group support
– Outreach work in local communities
– Practical support for families including parents and siblings
– Positive activities for young people
– Support through the criminal justice system
– Longer-term support to transition into positive outcomes such as education and employment
– Specialist support for New Communities and young people with special educational needs.
Safe and Sound chair Mark Richardson, who is a director of BBJ Commercial, has been working with fellow trustees, CEO Tracy Harrison and key partners in the city to bring the vision to reality.
He explained that the purchase of 8 Bold Lane was the culmination of two years’ discussions and site visits and was a milestone moment for Safe and Sound, the wider voluntary sector and for the vibrancy of the city centre.
“We have outgrown our rented offices in Darley Abbey Mills and there has always been a desire to have city centre premises to provide a safe and welcoming space for the young people and families that our specialist team supports.
“I am delighted that we have found the premises that will be the long-term home for everyone who works at and is supported by Safe and Sound as well as providing much needed accessible space for other organisations supporting some of the most vulnerable people in our local communities.
“The property has been vacant for some time and is in disrepair so this is an excellent opportunity to see it brought back to life. Its location next to the Electric Daisy environmental social enterprise further brings new cultural diversity and community to the area
“I am particularly grateful for the support shown by fellow professionals in the commercial property, construction and legal fields who have recognised the value that Safe and Sound brings to our city and county and who have provided us with their expertise to enable us to secure this purchase.”
CEO Tracy Harrison outlined the importance of upscaling facilities and capacity to support young people and their families whose lives had been affected by child exploitation.
She explained that child exploitation was a rapidly growing problem:
Almost 34,000 online grooming crimes against children were recorded in the past six years
6,350 Sexual Communication with a Child offences were recorded in 2022/23
In 2021/22, there were 17,486 crimes logged by police in England in Wales where children had been sexually exploited – an average of 48 offences a day.
She said: “Referrals for our services have doubled since the pandemic – reflecting the reality that any child, anywhere – regardless of their age, sex or family background – is at risk of child exploitation.
“However, we have been constricted by having to rent premises not only for our team but to provide an expanding programme of activities, support and therapies which are so vital to help young people and their families affected by exploitation to move forward with their lives.
“The Bold Lane premises will be an amazing community asset that will increase our impact by providing a centrally located safe and welcoming space for children and young people who are at risk of exploitation as well as their families.
“Our youth participation and parents as peers groups will continue to be heavily involved in the project plan – advising us on the facilities they want and we will continue to consult with our Youth Alliance partners throughout the process to ensure that this facility will benefit everyone.”
Mrs Harrison continued: “With the purchase secured, the Community Ownership Fund grant has enabled us to move quickly on the renovation of the property and we hope to be ready to open our doors in early 2025.
“We still have a long shopping list of equipment that we want to buy and special features that we want to include in the community hub so will be stepping up our efforts through the Butterfly Appeal to make this a reality.”
For more information about Safe and Sound, the work it does and how to support the charity, please visit www.safeandsoundgroup.org.uk
Local companies and organisations are being invited to recapture their childhoods and compete in a series of fun sporting challenges based on the traditional school sports day.
The Derby Business Games return this summer after a six year gap and will be held at Derby Rugby Club in Haslams Lane, Darley Abbey on Thursday July 4th between 4pm and 8pm.
Teams of eight will compete in the rounders tournament followed by individuals and pairs going head to head in mini events from wheelbarrow races to the firm favourite – egg and spoon. The afternoon will then finish with the tug of war and welly wanging finale before crowning the team with the most points accrued.
Derby Business Games is being organised by Will Evans who was behind the original Business Games in 2017. The event is supported by Marketing Derby and a percentage of the profits will be donated to Derbyshire’s specialist child exploitation charity, Safe and Sound.
Will Evans explained: “The Derby Business Games were last held in 2018 and were really well supported by local businesses of all sizes who relished the opportunity to harness their friendly competitive spirit and take part a host of fun activities.
“The feel of the event is an old-school sports day for grown-ups that should know better. The events are planned so that there is something for everyone to get involved in and enjoy.”
Tracy Harrison, CEO of Safe and Sound, added: “As active members of the Derby business community, we are delighted to have been chosen as charity recipients of the event and our staff and volunteers will be taking an active part in proceedings throughout the evening to ensure everyone enjoys themselves.”
The cost of the event is £300 per team with free entry for family, friends and colleagues who are invited to cheer on their teams.
Derbyshire’s leading child exploitation charity, Safe and Sound, has been appointed to work with more than 10,000 school pupils across the city and county to empower and give them confidence to stand up for their friends and intervene safely.
Safe and Sound has devised an active bystander programme entitled ‘I Can I Will’ which has secured funding from the Derby and Derbyshire Serious Violence Partnership Board under the objective to keep young people safe from harm.
Pupils aged ten to 18 will benefit from the delivery of Safe and Sound’s ‘I Can I Will’ workshops in the coming year which will be adapted dependant on the age group and SEND requirements. The workshops will equip participants with the knowledge of how to speak up and safely intervene in situations that make them feel uncomfortable. This will include situations where they witness bullying, violence and knife crime. The programme is in response to an 11% in serious violence in Derbyshire between 2019 and 2022 – particularly involving young people.
A survey by Safe and Sound of over 600 young people across the city and county also found that 50% were aware of violence taking place in their area and 37% had experienced violence personally; 45% were most worried about knife crime followed by 28% concerned about gangs.
Safe and Sound chief executive Tracy Harrison explained: “As well as an increase in reported crime, we know there is a growing issue in schools with bullying, harassment and violence. It is important for children and young people to be aware from an early age that emotional bullying can be just as damaging as physical harm and the need to challenge inappropriate behaviours. Peer-on-peer or child on child abuse can be motivated by perceived differences including on the grounds of race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, disability or other differences. It can result in significant, long lasting and traumatic isolation, intimidation or violence for the victim as well as the perpetrator who themselves can be facing violence and disruption in their lives. By educating students on bystander intervention, the ‘I Can I will’ workshops empower young people to actively contribute to the prevention of bullying, violence, and other negative behaviours within the school premises and beyond in local communities. These issues obviously need to be discussed in a way that is appropriate for children and very much focus on the positive elements of looking after each other, speaking up when you see something wrong and reporting incidents or concerns.”
Mrs Harrison continued: “We have been delivering ‘I Can I Will’ active bystander workshops in schools across the county having first developed the programme as part of the Safe Derby campaign to tackle violence against women in girls back in 2022 and these have been well received by teachers, parents and pupils. The support with funding from the Derby and Derbyshire Serious Violence Partnership Board has enabled us to further develop the workshops and to roll this out across the county. We look forward to working with school safeguarding leads across city in the coming year to support existing school policies and actions that encourage pupil voice and pupil action.”
Congratulations and thank you to Emma Healy at Kedleston Park Golf Club who has raised £1,000 for Safe and Sound after completing the Derby 10k.
Safe and Sound is the golf club captain Brian Spence’s chosen charity this year – inspiring Emma to enter the event for the first time.
Emma said: “I’m not a runner, and should’ve done more training – but I ran it in 77 minutes without stopping which I am very pleased with! The most painful part was starting and finishing at Pride Park considering I am a Forest fan!
“I am particularly grateful to all the members of Kedleston Park Golf Club and friends who have sponsored me for this charity which our Captain Brian Spence is championing this year, and have raised £1000. I also ran for the Ladies Captain charity which is Every Cloud so another £1000 is also going to them.”
Next week is #NationalChildExploitationAwarenessDay and as part of our awareness programme for March, Safe and Sound wanted to invite to join us for an online CRE Workshop – Child Exploitation and online safety:
By the end of the workshop, you should be familiar with:
What CRE is
Types of exploitation and risks
Additional vulnerabilities and risks to Young People with SEND
Signs of exploitation
Advice around school and the community
Advice around online dangers
Specific tools and tips for protecting your young people
Apps and Websites for additional protection and information
Karen Ritchie is a Family Support Worker at Safe and Sound and talks here about how returning to education has enabled her to change her career path and find the job that she loves.
My change of career path began eight years ago at the age of 47. Before I had my four children I worked as a full-time receptionist which I returned to part time after my eldest daughter was born. But, as my family grew, it was not financially viable as I would have paid more in childcare costs than I was earning. I therefore sought employment working unsociable hours which allowed me to look after my children during the day and my husband took over the childcare in the evenings.
It was during a college visit with one of my daughters that I made the decision that I would like to re-train and so my journey began and do something for me. I went to college in the evening to gain GCSE Maths and English. In my second year I also completed an access course in Health and Social Care level three with the intention of looking for employment.
I did not plan to apply to university as I did not consider myself to be academic enough to achieve a degree. Growing up in the 1980’s on a council estate, people and particularly girls like me did not attend university because I had left school with CSE’s. When I chose my options in secondary school I was encouraged to choose needlework, childcare, cookery and typing. I left school and secured a YTS training as a BT Telephonist.
However, as my college assignments were being marked with merit and distinction, my course leader persuaded me to apply for university which I did. I enrolled on the Youth Justice Course at Nottingham Trent. As a mature student I found studying challenging, it seemed to take me a longer to complete assignments than the younger students. Additionally, all four of my children were still at home so independent studying was difficult, and I would often work into the early hours to meet my deadlines.
During my final year Covid hit and as the country went into lockdown which brought additional challenges. I however graduated with a high 2:1. As part of my course I went on placement with a Youth Offending Team which led to me volunteering as a panel member with them.
During my trajectory of studying, I discovered my son was being exploited by his friend’s older sibling – selling and using drugs. As a family we all suffered the impact as it changes the atmosphere in the family home especially the outbursts, the worries for his safety and the drug testing. Fortunately, there was a turning point when he joined the RAF.
The combination of my degree, interest around County Lines and my lived experienced helped me secure my current position as a family support case worker. My role is to raise awareness with parents and siblings around exploitation, offer lots of emotional support and advocate on their behalf with statutory services. I help families with funding, housing and education and my professional knowledge of the youth criminal justice system has allowed me to help parents and their child through court.
Our parents are important partners in safeguarding their children so it is important that they are empowered to have a voice. I am particularly proud to have helped train some parents as mentors for others and also to produce resources to help inform and support other parents. I have developed a peer group where parents have a safe space, where they will not be judged or blamed and support each other.
Family support is not 9-5 so I need to be available late in the evenings for parents so that we don’t miss the opportunity of a reachable moment if, for instance, their child has been arrested. A parent may also need emotional support if their child is missing or has been harmed.
I love this job and my passion, hard work and empathy has enabled us to establish a family service in the city which has gained positive feedback from both parents and other professionals.
Having returned to education later in life, I am particularly pleased to have the opportunity to mentor colleagues and university students which has given me the further confidence to progress my own career.
