Youth work and social care news from around the world

Posted on September 8, 2018September 23, 2018 By Chris

Links from around the world of youth work and social care:

One in eight young people without degrees work in graduate jobs: The ONS publishes research showing that in 2017, 12% of non-graduates (327,303) aged 22 to 29 were working in a graduate job – defined as a role where the tasks typically require knowledge and skills gained through higher education. This compares with 54% of graduates (1,273,336) in the same age group who had a graduate job.

Call for young people to join NSPCC online safety group: The NSPCC is looking for young people aged 13-18 to join their online safety advisory group, to ensure young people’s views and experiences inform NSPCC campaigns, policy work and projects to help keep children safe online. Taking part will include face to face and online discussions about issues from gaming to online grooming. If you work in a school and are interested in your pupils getting involved, please email ParticipationUnit@NSPCC.org.uk. The deadline for young people to apply is Friday 21st September.

Keeping children safe in education: The Department for Education (DfE) statutory guidance for schools and colleges in England on Keeping children safe in education comes into force on 3 September 2018. The guidance includes: changes to information for all staff; the management of safeguarding; and a new section covering child on child sexual violence and sexual harassment. Annex H of the guidance provides a table of all changes.

Child Poverty: The House of Commons library has published a briefing paper setting out information on the levels and rates of poverty, including child poverty, in the UK. Figures show that in 2016/17 4.1 million children – 30% of all children – were in relative low income households after housing costs, up 100,000 from the previous year. Projections indicate that the proportion of children in relative low income households is expected to increase to 37% in 2021/22 based on incomes after housing costs.

Child Migrants: The House of Commons Library has published a briefing paper giving an overview of the policy and practice of immigration detention in the UK. The briefing includes information on: unaccompanied children, at risk adults, pregnant women and families with children.

Children’s play and physical activity: The Children’s Commissioner for England has published a report looking at the importance to children of play and physical activity. Recommendations for government include: putting out-of-school activity at the heart of the plan to reduce obesity; and focussing on play and activity in policy responses to challenges faced by children, including mental health issues and excessive use of technology.

Good childhood report: The Children’s Society has published its seventh in-depth report on children and young people’s wellbeing in the UK. The report uses data from the Millennium Cohort Survey on the lives of more than 11,000 children born in the UK in 2000-01. In 2015, when the children were 14, they were asked whether they had hurt themselves on purpose in any way in the past year. Responses show that: 22% of girls and 9.2% of boys had self-harmed.

Transgender foster carers and adopters: An article in Community Care outlines tips to help social workers supporting transgender foster carers and adopters. Good practice tips include: using inclusive gender neutral language wherever possible in written materials; and not making assumptions or having fixed views about what is ‘normal’ for transgender people.

Youth work and social care news from around the world

Posted on August 18, 2018 By Chris

Links from around the world of youth work and social care:

Number of admissions to hospital of girls under 18 after self-harming has nearly doubled: The Guardian reports that figures provided in response to a written question in the House of Lords, answered by Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Health Lord O’Shaughnessy, show that the number of admissions to hospital of girls under the age of 18 in England after self-harming has nearly doubled compared with 20 years ago. NHS Digital figures show that: there were 13,463 admissions of girls under the age of 18 in 2016/17 against 7,327 in 1997/98; the figure for admissions of boys who self-harmed rose from 2,236 in 1997/98 to 2,332 in 2016/17.

Adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse: The University of Suffolk and the charity Survivors in Transition have published research looking at the impact of delayed disclosure and access to services and support for those who experienced sexual abuse in their childhood. Findings from in-depth interviews with 28 adult survivors of child sexual abuse show that: the average time span from the start of abuse to disclosure was over 27.5 years; survivors reported that delayed disclosure resulted in complex issues related to the experience of abuse, which had a detrimental impact on their mental health; and poor experiences of disclosure had acted as barriers to future support services.

Perinatal mental health services are patchy: The Guardian reports that an unpublished report, commissioned by Health Education England, has found that in many areas of England specialist perinatal mental health services are patchy or non-existent.

Answering parents commonly asked online safety questions: Childnet has written a blog answering some of the questions parents and carers most frequently ask about online safety. Topic covered include: teenagers spending too much time online; under 13s joining social networking sites; and playing games that have an older age rating.

Viewing child abuse images: The Telegraph reports that the Solicitor General, Robert Buckland, has said that sex offenders who download or share images of child abuse should be dealt with by the court as harshly as those who abuse children themselves. The article also reports that the government is planning to bring child pornography offences under the “unduly lenient sentence” scheme, which enables sentences to be reviewed by the Court of Appeal.

Youth work and social care news from around the world

Posted on August 11, 2018August 18, 2018 By Chris

Links from around the world of youth work and social care:

Young carers limited summer holidays: Action for Children and Carers Trust have released findings from a survey of 270 young carers under the age of 18 looking at how they spend their summer holidays. Findings show that: 47% of young carers spend more than four hours a day during the summer caring for a relative; 68% said they feel more stressed or worried during the holidays; and 57% worry about talking about what they did in the summer break when they go back to school.
“Holiday hunger” increasing: The National Education Union (NEU) has released findings from a survey of 657 secondary school teachers looking at “holiday hunger”, where families are unable to afford enough food during the school summer break. Findings show that 59% of members polled said that children and young people in their school experienced holiday hunger.
Relationships and sex education and PSHE briefing papers: The House of Commons Library has published a briefing on relationships and sex education and a briefing on personal, social, health and economic education (PSHE) in schools in England. The first briefing provides an overview of the legislation and guidance currently in place regarding sex and relationship education (SRE) in schools and related reviews and proposals in Parliament to introduce relationship and sex education (RSE), whilst the second sets out the rules relating to the provision of (PSHE), and introduces the debates about the quality of provision and the subject’s statutory status.
Online abuse and the experience of disabled people: The House of Commons Petitions Committee has published draft recommendations and launched an inquiry into online abuse and the experience of disabled people. Recommendations include: making incitement of disability hatred a specific crime; and requiring social media companies to produce easy to read privacy notices. The inquiry follows a petition organised by Katie Price, mother of a 16 year old son with disabilities who was subject to online abuse, which was signed by more than 200,000 people.
UK children with ADHD wait up to two years for diagnosis: The Guardian reports that analysis of a freedom of information request by the All-party parliamentary group on ADHD shows that children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are waiting up to two years for a diagnosis in England.
Digital literacy: The House of Commons Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) Committee has published an interim report following its disinformation and fake news enquiry. The report includes a section looking at digital literacy in relation to children and young people. Its recommendations include: introducing digital literacy as part of the physical, social, health and economic curriculum funded by an educational levy to be raised by social media companies.

Council for Internet Safety in the UK

Posted on July 30, 2018 By Chris

The government has announced plans to establish a new UK Council for Internet Safety (UKCIS), which will extend the scope of the current UK Council for Child Internet Safety (UKCCIS). It will be a new collaborative forum through which government, the tech community and the third sector work together to ensure the UK is the safest place in the world to be online.

Priority areas of focus for the council will include:

online harm experienced by children such as cyberbullying and sexual exploitation;
radicalisation and extremism;
violence against women and girls;
hate crime and hate speech;
and forms of discrimination against groups protected under the Equality Act.

The Government has opened the application process to appoint members of the UKCIS Executive Board (the closing date is 03 September 2018).

How to safely use ‘Questions’ on Instagram

Posted on July 27, 2018July 30, 2018 By Chris

Recently Instagram introduced ‘Questions’ – the latest feature onto the photo sharing app. Users are now able to invite their followers to ask them questions, which they can then publicly answer. The UK Safer Internet Centre has published a blog describing things to be aware of.

What are questions on Instagram?

Questions can be added once you have taken a photo or video that you want to share on your story. This is done by selecting the poll sticker from the stickers tab .

You can then position the questions sticker onto your story and invite your followers to ask you a question.

Your followers ask you a question by typing into the answer box in your sticker, and then sending this to you to answer.

To see the questions you have been asked, swipe up to open the viewers list for that part of your story.

Are the questions anonymous?

There has been some confusion recently about whether the question you ask on Instagram stories are anonymous.

Instagram questions are not anonymous, the person who you sent the question to will know that it is you who asked them. However, if the person you’re sending a question to decides to share your question publicly, your username will be removed.

Remember that anonymous or not there is a real person behind the Instagram account that you are asking questions to. It’s important to act respectfully and kindly on this service and any other question platform you use.

Who can see my answers?

You can choose how you answer the questions you have been asked. When you click to reply to a question you are taken to a camera screen, where you can take a picture that will be the background to your answer. Once you have typed your reply to the question, you can choose whether to answer privately or publicly.

Privately: you can choose to send your answer directly to the person who asked you in a private message.
Publicly: you can chose to post your answer onto your story so that all of your followers can see it. It’s worth noting if you have a public account anyone who views your story will be able to see your answer.

You can also choose not to answer any questions you have been asked. You can delete any questions in the question viewer. If anyone asks you a question that is inappropriate or makes you feel uncomfortable you can always go and speak to an adult you trust, and report or block the user.

Things to remember

Whilst these questions can be used positively to find out more about your friends, there is potential for this feature to be misused. There have been reports of people using the feature to ask upsetting or insulting questions, especially if they think they are under an anonymous guise.

Remember that whoever you are asking questions of is a real person. Before you send a negative or mean comment, think about the effect that receiving this will have on a person.

Our advice

Think about how your question will make someone feel.
Remember that they will be able to see what you post. If your question will hurt someone’s feelings it’s better not to post it.
Report inappropriate questions.
If you see a story or question that you think breaks Instagram’s terms of service you can report it to Instagram.
Speak to someone you trust.
Speak to a parent, carer or teacher if you are upset or concerned about any question you have been asked. You can also contact Childline by calling 0800 1111.

Safeguarding update from Hampshire Constabulary

Posted on December 7, 2017December 11, 2017 By Chris

Please be aware of the attached further update from Hampshire Constabulary

Dear Parents,

You may be aware of an explicit video involving two children which has been shared far and wide on social media and has been in the news this week.

Hampshire Constabulary has conducted a thorough investigation into these matters and a man has been charged with inciting a female aged 13-15 years to engage in sexual activity, making an indecent photograph of a child and distributing an indecent photograph of a child.

Both children, who are victims of serious crime, are being supported by specialist police officers and partner agencies. As these legal proceedings are ongoing, I would like to remind people not to speculate – especially on social media – as it may compromise the investigation.

The advice from the police remains the same, if children and young people receive this video on any social media platform, be it Snapchat, Instagram, WhatsApp or any other channel – they should delete it immediately and tell a trusted adult – a teacher or parent for example.

It’s really important that they understand that if they show this video to someone else or forward it on to other people, they could be committing a crime and we want to stop that happening. We have been clear that we do not want to criminalise children and that people won’t be in trouble if they’ve made a genuine mistake.

Sadly, we are seeing more offences where young people are being targeted by offenders who conceal their identities, and know where to go online to access and strike up false friendships with children and unfortunately, no one is immune to the dangers. Please discuss this with your children and encourage them to talk to you or another trusted adult if they have any worries or concerns. They can also call ChildLine if they really don’t feel comfortable talking to someone face-to-face.

If you have any concerns about the safety of your children online or would like to know more, there is further support and advice for children and parents available on the CEOP website http://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/

Detective Superintendent Rachel Farrell Hampshire Constabulary

Hampshire detectives charge man following investigation into online sexual offences

Posted on December 6, 2017December 11, 2017 By Chris

Hampshire Constabulary have released a statement about a local investigation into online sexual offences:

Officers from the child abuse investigation team at Hampshire Constabulary have charged a man in connection with an investigation into online sexual offences.

Daniel Norton, from Cheadle, in Stockport, has been charged with the following –

Three counts of inciting a female aged 13-15 years to engage in sexual activity
Three counts of making an indecent photograph of a child
One count of distributing an indecent photograph of a child

The 25-year-old is due to appear at Southampton Magistrates Court later today (Wednesday, December 6).

If you are concerned that a child you know has been a victim of online child sexual abuse, report directly to CEOP via the ClickCEOP reporting button –www.ceop.police.uk. If you would like to understand more about keeping children safe from online sexual abuse, please visit CEOP’s Thinkuknow website – www.thinkuknow.co.uk.

Additional support for children who don’t feel able to talk to a trusted adult is available from ChildLine on 0800 1111.

Hampshire Safeguarding update for parents of 5-11 year olds

Posted on December 6, 2017December 11, 2017 By Chris

Following the recent news, Hampshire Safeguarding Children Board emailed this letter to all primary schools:

Following liaison with the police we are sending this email to all primary schools. We would very much appreciate your co-operation in circulating this message to parents and re-enforcing the importance of online safety.

With the Christmas holidays approaching and the prospect of children perhaps receiving digital media as a gift in some shape or form – tablets and gaming consoles, for example – we thought it would be an appropriate time to remind you about the responsible use of such devices.

Following, the recent news stories relating to the Police’s increasing concerns about child exploitation through social media ( http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-42224148 ), please do take the time to set up robust parental controls on devices and ensure that you set the passwords and codes so that only you know them.

There is some helpful advice relating to this on Hampshire County Council’s website:

https://www.hants.gov.uk/socialcareandhealth/childrenandfamilies/safeguardingchildren/ onlinesafety

If your children are likely to be using the internet, you may find it helpful for them to be aware and to have viewed this website: https://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/5_7/

Helpful advice is also available from the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) website:

https://www.nspcc.org.uk/preventing-abuse/keeping-children-safe/online-safety/

Aside from the risk of exploitation and cyber bullying, it is unfortunate in this day and age that content exists on social media that would be inappropriate, and potentially harmful, for young children to view.

If you receive images or videos on Snapchat, Instagram, Whatsapp or via any other social media featuring people that are naked or are sexual in nature, these should be deleted immediately and reported to the Police on the non-emergency 101 telephone number. Many people are still unaware that showing or sharing such images or videos with others could mean they are committing a crime. However, if a genuine mistake is made, it would be treated as such by the Police.

Karen Nye
School Improvement Manager (Inclusion)

Hampshire County Council Children’s Services Department

How To Shop Online Safely

Posted on November 25, 2017 By Chris

Action for Fraud have released a very helpful infographic on How To Shop Online Safely in the run up to the Christmas present buying season:

Check the web address

Always check you’re on the correct website. Criminals can set up fake websites that have a similar design and web address to the genuine site.

Is it a secure connection?

Web pages you enter personal or financial details into should display a locked padlock sign and have a web address that starts with https. This means your connection to the website is secure.

Phishing

Don’t click on links or attachments within unsolicited emails. The number of online shopping related phishing emails increases significantly during the holiday period.

Bank transfers
65% of Action Fraud reports during the 2016 Christmas period were linked to online auction sites. Don’t pay for goods or services by bank transfer unless you know and trust the person. Payments via bank transfer offer you no protection if you become a victim of fraud.

NSPCC warns of ‘blurred boundaries’ between YouTube stars and fans

Posted on November 13, 2016November 13, 2016 By Chris

“Blurred boundaries” between prominent YouTube stars and their young, often impressionable viewers can put young people at risk, the NSPCC has warned.

They have created a helpline for victims and have urged those who watch YouTube videos to:

Never share your personal information online
Do not accept friend requests from people you don’t know in real life
Have conversations with your parents about where you are going and what you are doing online

Many people have come forward in the last few years to accuse a wide range of YouTubers, ranging from popular big names like Toby Turner to smaller creators like Alex Carpenter. Most of these accusations have not resulted in criminal complaints, but they remain archived in the pages of internet history.

Emily Cherry, of the NSPCC, told the BBC in an interview that YouTubers have a “responsibility” to make sure relationships with young fans are appropriate.

Ms Cherry warned that online stars have huge power and influence on young people and the way they think about the real world. She told BBC Radio 5 live:

“One child told me that checking their social media accounts and what their favourite YouTube stars are up to was as important to them as eating”

If young people have been affected by any issues or need advice on staying safe online, on protecting your children, or as an Internet personality, the NSPCC has a helpline you can call on 0808 800 500 2.

Consultation on porn sites and age verification

Posted on February 29, 2016 By Chris

A public consultation over plans to implement age checks on pornography websites has been launched by the UK government.

The proposals follow a Conservative Party manifesto commitment that “all sites containing pornographic material” must check that users are over 18.

Internet providers, charities, academics and others will be asked to contribute to the consultation.