Sep 7, 2023 | Fundraising, News, News, Press Releases
Derbyshire’s specialist child exploitation charity, Safe and Sound, has been chosen as the recipient of donations and funds raised at the East Midlands Business Masters Awards 2023, run by Business.com East Midlands. https://www.thebusinessdesk.com/eastmidlands/events/east-midlands-business-masters-2023
Safe and Sound’s CEO Tracy Harrison, who won the public and third sector leadership award earlier this year which is also organised by the business news platform, will be among the keynote speakers at the awards presentation on October 19 at Nottingham’s Crowne Plaza.
She said: “We are very grateful to the organisers for supporting our charity in this way. I am looking forward to meeting many business leaders who already support us – including the event’s headline sponsors Invictus Communications – as well as representatives from some of the region’s leading businesses and organisations who will be receiving well-deserved recognition on the night.”
Aug 23, 2023 | News, Press Releases
Derbyshire’s specialist child exploitation charity, Safe and Sound, has appointed a new team lead to support and grow the organisation’s growing group of volunteers.
Rach Bricknell joins Safe and Sound from a children’s charity where she both volunteered her time and worked on fundraising and events having previously set up her own candle making business and worked in a variety of accounting, business administration and retail roles.
At Safe and Sound, she will support the current volunteering team who carry out vital work across the organisation from outreach sessions and youth activities to administrative and ambassadorial role.
Safe and Sound CEO Tracy Harrison explained: “Rach’s experience in the charity sector – both as a paid officer and a volunteer – as well as her entrepreneurial flair in running her own business will be a great asset to the charity.
“Volunteers are the backbone to organisations such as Safe and Sound and this appointment steps up the support and development to the wide range of people from all walks of life who give their time to help us in work with children, young people and families across Derbyshire whose lives have been affected by child exploitation.
“Our volunteers support us in a number of ways. For example, parents of children targeted both online and in person by perpetrators have progressed to become peer mentors – supporting other families through their journey.
“Our youth work and outreach teams are supported by volunteers with an array of life experience to ensure that we can reach out and engage with young people across the city and county.
“We also have a wide range of professionals who provide support for the charity – taking on roles as trustees and ambassadors and also providing their expertise to us free of charge.”
Rach Bricknell continued: “I am excited to be part of an amazing charity that does such incredible work to support and protect some of the most vulnerable young people and families across the county.
“I know from personal experience that nothing beats the feeling that you have given something back in whatever way you can. It is also the opportunity to learn more about the issues that people face in their lives and to develop new skills which are invaluable in all aspects of home and work life.
“I am relishing the role – both in working with our existing volunteers and to recruiting more people to keep pace with the growing demand for Safe and Sound’s support services. Their input really can make a positive difference to the lives of so many people in our local communities.”
For more information about volunteering at Safe and Sound, please visit https://www.safeandsoundgroup.org.uk/i-want-to-volunteer-my-skills/
Aug 22, 2023 | News, Press Releases
By Tracy Harrison, CEO of Safe and Sound – Derbyshire’s leading charity that supports and protects children, young people and families whose lives have been affected by child exploitation.
Latest research reveals that more than 2,600 online grooming crimes have been recorded by police in the East Midlands in the six years since sexual communication with a child was officially recognised as a criminal offence.
That means that literally hundreds of children and young people have been contacted by perpetrators online; blackmailed into sharing indecent photographs of themselves; have been sent horrific images and pornography and, in some cases, have been coerced into meeting up with the perpetrators and subjected to life-changing emotional, physical and sexual abuse.
These figures are likely to be only the tip of the iceberg with many more young people too afraid or ashamed to ask for help – petrified that their abuser will mete out the retribution they have threatened or fearful that they will not be believed and somehow be blamed for what has happened.
Most people think that online grooming takes place on traditional social media channels but researchers have identified 150 different apps, games and websites being used to target children.
Between April 2022 and March 2023, Safe and Sound supported 346 children and young people and, in the vast majority of cases, the grooming and abuse started online.
Online grooming has therefore had a devastating effect on the lives of too many young people and their wider families and we need to do all we can to protect them.
Organisations such as ourselves who are committed to protecting and supporting children and young people who are at risk or are victims of child exploitation have long been calling for the swift passage of the Online Safety Bill which has slowed since the draft was first published more than two years ago.
The legislation will mean that tech companies have a legal duty of care for young users and put safeguards in place to protect children online with stronger regulation by Ofcom.
We hope that the Online Safety Bill will become law this Autumn but, in the meantime, I appeal to families to be far more vigilant about the dangers online for young people.
Please set the highest possible privacy settings on their social media, gaming and search engine apps and channels.
Most of us would question a young person as they leave the home about where they are going and who they are meeting. It’s the same for online activity. Have open and honest discussions about who they are talking to online and that not everybody is who they seem.
For more advice and information, please visit www.safeandsoundgroup.org.uk
Aug 21, 2023 | Events, Fundraising, News, Press Releases
Specialist child exploitation charity Safe and Sound has been appointed to deliver a special programme that aims to strengthen family relationships and reduce the number of young people going into local authority care in Derby city.
The charity has worked closely with Derby City Council to deliver a pilot Family Group Conference programme in the city which is the first in the Midlands and were part of a competitive tendering process to determine its future delivery.
The programme was originally devised by Leeds City Council and centres around empowering and supporting families to find solutions to the issues they face and remain together as a family unit rather than matters escalating and their children being placed in care.
Over the two-year pilot, 115 families have been referred to Safe and Sound by Derby City Council with 95 conference reviews held – bringing the wider family around the table to discuss the future of the children.
Issues have ranged from single parents who have been empowered to ask their families for practical and emotional support to children being cared for by other family members rather than being placed in care due to issues at home.
Safe and Sound has drawn on its experience in supporting children and young people who are victims of or at risk of exploitation including online grooming, sexual exploitation, County Lines, trafficking, modern slavery and radicalisation as well as helping the wider family.
Safe and Sound chief executive Tracy Harrison explained: “We were originally appointed to lead on this pilot programme because of our proven track record in protecting and supporting children, young people and families – empowering them to take back control and re-build their lives.
“Children in care are more vulnerable to exploitation and if we can keep them safer in the family home it reduces that risk too.
“We also have widespread experience of supporting young people and families who are new arrivals to the city such as those in the Roma community who have a long-held mistrust of authority and whose children are particularly vulnerable to exploitation.
“Throughout the pilot programme we have demonstrated how we can successfully empower and support the family to broker relationships, work through issues together and make safe decisions and plans so that children going into the care of the local authority is the last resort.
“We have worked with families facing a wide range of issues to move forward positively and have also been able to put extra support in place where we can or signpost them to other organisations for help.
“I am delighted that foundations we have helped put in place will now be built upon moving forward so that we play an important role in empowering families to find a solution that enables more young people to grow into adulthood safely and with family support.”
Cllr John Whitby, Cabinet Member for Children’s Social Care, Learning and Skills at Derby City Council, added: “The Family Group Conferencing approach reflects the aims and values of both Derby City Council and Safe and Sound where children are at the centre of practice.
“We have a shared desire to empower and enable families to find solutions, make changes, build resilience and, most of all, to remain together.
“The work undertaken initially in Leeds and now in Derby has shown that, through building relationships with professionals who support and guide through this process, families can and do achieve this.”
Among the families supported through the pilot Family Group Conferencing programme is a couple with seven children. On discovering that she had a terminal illness, the mother knew her partner could not cope. By bringing the four grown up children around the table, plans were progressed for the younger ones to be looked after rather than going into care.
Another mother with a young son was facing an ongoing alcohol misuse issues. Through the Family Group Conference she was empowered to admit the extent of her challenges and to ask for help and support from her wider family which has ensured the safety and care of her son.
For more information about Safe and Sound and how to support the work it does, please visit https://safeandsoundgroup.org.uk/
Jul 27, 2023 | Events, Fundraising, News, Press Releases
One of Derby’s most popular charity events is returning to Markeaton Park after an extended break.
The Derby & Burton Hospitals Charity Colour Run is set to return to the park after three years with the local charities and businesses getting on board to support the colour-filled event.
The event, which will see runners follow a 5km route around Markeaton Park whilst being sprayed in a rainbow of coloured powder paint, takes place on Saturday 16 August from 11am – 2pm.
Safe and Sound, Derbyshire’s specialist charity that supports children, young people and families affected by child exploitation, is working alongside the Hospitals Charity to raise funds and awareness.
Vicky Carey, Community Fundraiser at Derby & Burton Hospitals Charity, said: “We are thrilled to be working with another local charity and make our event bigger and better than ever.
“It is really important to us to have support from our local community, whose generosity enables us to carry on providing those much-needed extras, and the money raised will make a real difference to patients across the Trust.”
Tracy Harrison, CEO of Safe and Sound added: “We are delighted to have the opportunity to be part of this great event which will raise much needed funds and awareness both for us and the hospitals charity.
“Child exploitation is not a comfortable subject to discuss but I hope that our involvement in the Colour Run will encourage more conversations about the dangers facing young people both online and in our local communities so that families reach out for support and advice if they have concerns.
“We are particularly keen to give some of the young people that we support the opportunity take part in the Colour Run to build their confidence, resilience and self-esteem and hope that business sponsorship will be able to make this happen.”
Runners in the event will be raising money for Derby & Burton Hospitals Charity but can also choose to support a specific ward or department across any of University Hospitals of Derby and Burton’s (UHDB) five hospital sites in Derby, Burton, Tamworth and Lichfield.
Adults and children over five are all welcome to take part in the fun run. Entry costs £25 for over-16s or £12.50 for under-16s and includes a free t-shirt and paint packet to use at the start of the race.
Sign up for the 2023 Colour Run on our website > or alternatively, you can call Vicky Carey on 01332 788 861.
For further information on the Safe and Sound charity, and how to discuss young people sponsorship opportunities, visit their website >
Jul 20, 2023 | News, News, Press Releases
Derbyshire specialist child exploitation charity, Safe and Sound, has been appointed to extend outreach work in parts of South Derbyshire following a successful pilot programme.
The pilot outreach programme originally started in Swadlincote and was stepped up following a tragic stabbing in a local park which rocked the whole community. The geographical area has since been expanded to other areas in the district eg: Newhall in parks and places where young people tend to congregate.
Outreach workers and volunteers from Safe and Sound will continue to be joined by representatives from other agencies including Derbyshire County Council’s early help youth practitioners, sexual health specialists and Derbyshire police neighbourhood teams.
Key objectives of the outreach programme, funded by Derbyshire County Council, are to raise awareness of young people around grooming and exploitation, provide reassurance around community safety and gain the views of young people about services and support they needed to feel safer.
During the pilot programme, young people have highlighted specific places where they feel unsafe, have been signposted to positive youth activities they can join and have been empowered to be advocates amongst their own peers for community safety.
Safe and Sound CEO Tracy Harrison explained: “Our team of outreach workers and volunteers, alongside representatives from partner agencies, have done a brilliant job in building relationships with young people across the district by providing a regular, reliable and approach presence in local communities.
“Our team is responsive and reacts to intelligence that is shared from partnership agencies – adapting routes according to the needs of the community – just as we also do on a weekly basis in Derby city centre.
“As well as raising awareness and feeding back issues that they are concerned about, we have received self-referrals from young people who need our help including one young person who we were able to help secure bereavement counselling that they desperately needed.”
Samantha Elks, Health Improvement Practitioner in Derbyshire Dales & South Derbyshire, continued: “The South Derbyshire Partnership are pleased to support Safe and Sound to deliver outreach youth work in the Swadlincote urban core.
“Outreach youth work is a valuable part of the support offer that is available to children and young people to aid their emotional wellbeing and to protect more young people from child exploitation.”
Chris Smith, Communities Team Manager at South Derbyshire District Council concluded: “This offer compliments the existing groups and activities available and enables children and young people, who may not access these opportunities, to have a voice and to gain support where needed.
“The outreach programme has therefore opened up meaningful engagement between different groups of young people and statutory agencies with everyone sharing the common goal of making South Derbyshire a safer and healthier place to live, work and enjoy.”
For more information about the work of Safe and Sound and to access resources and support, please visit www.safeandsoundgroup.org.uk
