A new campaign has been launched aiming to keep children safe by having adults undertake 10-minute training on spotting and reporting abuse.
The campaign, led by the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC), provides free training followed by a series of emails from experts with actions people can take to keep children safe.
Over the past year, the NSPCC’s adult Helpline has seen a 14% increase in the number of contacts about in-person sexual abuse.
From April 2021 to March 2022, their Helpline spoke 8,347 times with adults concerned about this issue compared to 7,338 the year before.
The Helpline’s child protection specialists have also taken thousands of contacts over the past year relating to other issues including:
- 8,969 contacts about physical abuse
- 7,370 contacts about emotional abuse
- 10,595 contacts about neglect
The 10-minutes training uses scenarios – a father concerned about messages his son is receiving, a hairdresser that notices bruises on a child and a friend worried about a new parent – to show people what to do if they think a child is in trouble.
The advice is based on the mnemonic DOTS which is designed to address the barriers to people acting on concerns. DOTS stands for:
- Don’t ignore it
- Observe the situation
- Think: If not you, then who?
- Speak up
Click here to sign up and take the training.
Sir Peter Wanless, CEO of the NSPCC said:
“Child protection in the UK needs to be a national priority. Last year a series of terrible cases shocked the nation, while major reviews called for urgent reform.
2023 must be the year we take action. At the NSPCC, we want to encourage everyone to play their part in keeping children safe and that’s why we’re thrilled to be piloting a fresh and exciting new campaign.
We’re encouraging everybody to listen up and learn a bit more about how to help keep children safe and what to do if you have a concern.”
The campaign has been endorsed by Olympic cyclist, Sir Bradley Wiggins, who last year spoke out publicly for the first time about being groomed by his training coach when he was thirteen years old.
Bradley buried his experiences and struggled cope and he said that if someone had spotted that he was suffering and had spoken out, he might have been able to get the help and support he needed much earlier. He said:
“It’s a privilege to be supporting the launch of the NSPCC’s Listen Up, Speak Up campaign which will help ensure children across the UK are better protected from abuse and neglect unlike myself.
I believe it is every child’s right to live a life free of abuse and if more people know the signs to spot and how to speak up, this will mean more vulnerable children can get the help and support they need and deserve.”
