Our fundraisers and supporters are taking on a skydive challenge on Friday the 28th June and Saturday 29th June to raise vital funds to support children, young people and families who are affected by child exploitation.
Safe and Sound's vision is to always be there when young people need us and to prevent exploitation wherever and however, we can.
Since 2002, we have been tackling child exploitation by providing high quality tailored one-to-one support to victims and young people at risk in Derby and Derbyshire. From 2019, whilst maintaining our specialism in sexual exploitation, we have expanded our services to include all forms of exploitation. Our vital work ensures that individuals receive the support they need to move forwards in their lives.
Last year we supported 385 children and young people aged eight and above who had been victims of or at risk of child exploitation including online grooming, sexual exploitation, County Lines, trafficking, modern slavery and radicalisation.
I feel like I can open up with my Safe and Sound worker. She understands and listens to me and helps me talk more openly with my parents.
The charity heavily depends on fundraising to pay for specialist one-to-one and group support, outreach and positive youth activities programmes. Sponsorship money raised will go towards supporting Safe and Sound's programmes for young people and families.
Jane (not her real name) lives with her siblings and adoptive parents having previously experienced abuse. She has post-traumatic stress disorder and development delay.
When referred to Safe and Sounds Specialist Educational Needs - Education and Awareness Officer the family were in crisis. There were real concerns as Jane had been groomed online and this had escalated into sexual exploitation which was putting a severe strain on family relationships.
Safe and Sounds Education and Awareness Officer used specially adapted resources to help Jane understand about staying safe online, boundaries, relationships, risk taking, the danger of online grooming, reporting abuse and privacy settings.
This patient and appropriate approach helped Jane to build her confidence, recognise the risks she faces and open up about her experiences.
Jane's mum said: We absolutely thought we had lost our lovely special daughter which has been hard to come to terms with and has caused us so much emotional and mental pain.
Safe and Sound has been our lifeline and started to breakdown our daughters destructive cycle, making her feel good about herself, so she was less reliant on inappropriate chat rooms. The fact that she didn't flinch when her phone broken and said she wasn't worried how long it took to replace, showed less dependency on the vehicle to the person who has been grooming her online.
Safe and Sounds expertise with young adults with learning difficulties has shone in helping her accept what has previously happened to her and that it is just a small part of who she is. She has more of her life ahead of her than behind her and we hope it is as full and healthy in every way as possible.
With Safe and Sounds help we hope she can help her see this herself. She can now better recognise unsafe contacts online, tell us if she is uncomfortable with conversations and unwanted interest, and we have reported particularly dangerous activity to the police who have taken our concerns seriously and are investigating.
Without Safe and Sounds support for the whole family, I believe, she would have packed her bags and gone off with her groomer.
As her parents, it's been a privilege to watch her become aware of the subtle manipulative strategies that online stranger dangers presents to all vulnerable individuals and we are grateful that Safe and Sounds awareness programme was there for our young adult.
* Charities pay a small fee for our service. Find out how much it is and what we do for it.
