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NEWSLETTER: Youth and Online Safety

Latest news

26/05/2020: ‘Unprecedented’ rise in youth homelessness (Wales)

There has been an “unprecedented” rise in the number of young people facing homelessness during the coronavirus crisis, a charity has said. Homelessness charity Llamau said it had already received . . . more calls this year than it did in the whole of 2019 – at a time when fundraising had collapsed. A teenager from Newport said he faced homelessness after “sofa surfing” arrangements with family broke down.
BBC

24/05/2020: Childhood in UK care system makes you twice as likely to die earlier, study shows

People who spent time in care as children are almost twice as likely to die prematurely than those who did not, stark new research reveals. Researchers at University College London tracked more than . . . 350,000 people using official government data between 1971 and 2013. They found that the likelihood of dying earlier among those who had been in care increased over time, contrary to the general population which, during the same period, experienced a decline in mortality risk.
Guardian

23/05/2020: Digital poverty ‘a threat to children in care’

A lack of access to basic technology during lockdown poses an “unprecedented threat” to the wellbeing of children in care and care leavers, a charity warns. Voices from Care Cymru (VFCC) said some of . . . the most vulnerable children and young people in society cannot stay in touch with important support networks. The charity warned isolation and poor mental health is on the rise and called on councils to utilise technology.
BBC

22/05/2020: Ofsted fast-tracks children’s home registrations in response to pandemic

There has been a surge in the number of children and young people requiring residential care placements as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, Ofsted has said. The inspectorate is working with local . . . authorities and children’s home providers to fast-track new applications in an effort to get more capacity into the care system. It said it had completed around 60 successful applications over the past four weeks, triple the number of registrations it would normally process in a month.
Children and Young People Now

21/05/2020: Social workers to be placed in schools to support vulnerable children

Social workers will be placed in schools to help staff spot signs of abuse and neglect as part of a new package of government measures to support vulnerable children. Announcing the initiative at a . . . virtual Hidden Harms summit, Education Secretary Gavin Williamson said it would give greater protection to at risk children by introducing professionals trained to identify warning signs more quickly.
Children and Young People Now

21/05/2020: More training needed for social workers to report child sexual abuse, study says

Social workers need increased training to identify and report child sexual abuse (CSA) to help reduce the impact it causes on children and families, new research suggests. A report, which presents the . . . findings from an evaluation of a pilot programme delivered by the Centre of expertise on child sexual abuse (CSA Centre) says improving the social work response to CSA is essential to reduce the long term effects of sexual abuse on individuals and families.
Children and Young People Now

All news

Calendar

13/06/2020 : How to help children, teenagers and adults tell their stories in order to heal emotionally
This conference presenters will address what happens when a child, teenager or adult does not seek help or is not given the opportunity to tell their . . . painful story. The presenters will then explore what happens when someone does tell their story to someone who is a skilled empathic listener. Both the neural and psychological basis of the profound relief in telling your story will be discussed demonstrating how quality of life depends on this.

London |  £183.00 | Details

25/06/2020 : Youth Work in the 2020s: Policy, Practice & Opportunities
Youth work in all its forms can have a transformational impact on young people’s lives. After a decade of policy neglect and underfunding, the . . . beginning of the 2020s promises a strong focus on youth work policy, skills and qualifications not seen for many years. A government review of statutory guidance this year will clarify what services local authorities must provide, while a review of youth work qualifications will set out new routes to the profession and skills for youth workers in the future.

London |  From £199.00 | Details

11/07/2020 : When you’ve been to hell and back: breaking the cycle of the intergenerational transfer of trauma
This conference is all about empowering staff with key knowledge, tools and techniques to help children and young people who have experienced horrible . . . events in their lives. Practical interventions will be discussed from a knowledge base of what happens to the brain and body when undergoing shocking experiences and being left unhelped, with extreme stress. Presenters will explore the science and psychology of common symptoms: emotional numbing, hyperarousal, physical symptoms and illness and repeating the trauma but this time with someone else as the victim, causing hurting as they themselves have been hurt.

London |  £183.00 | Details

All events

Publications

Ending the detention of unsentenced children during the Covid-19 pandemic – A guide for practitioners
Custody is a damaging environment for children in normal times but it has become even worse since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. Severely . . . restricted prison regimes have led to the majority of children being held in prolonged solitary confinement; no face-to-face visits; virtually no education or therapy; and difficulties in contacting families and professionals making planning for court hearings especially problematic.
View document (PDF)

Young people’s voices on youth court
This briefing paper highlights the experiences of young people in youth courts in their own words. and draws from research conducted for our . . . forthcoming research report, co-authored with the Institute for Crime & Justice Policy Research (ICPR), Time to get it right: Enhancing problem-solving practice in the Youth Court, which is due to be published in early July.
View document (PDF)

Report Harmful Content Launch Annual Report
Report Harmful Content has just released its annual report into the findings surrounding harmful content online. This report presents results of . . . mixed-methods research carried out on all cases dealt within the first year of operation (January 2019-December 2019). In the year analysed, the RHC website received 9,282 visitors and practitioners dealt with 164 unique cases. The service’s popularity rapidly increased in September, following the official service launch, and continued to grow until the end of the year.
View document (PDF)

All documents

Links

Centre of expertise on child sexual abuse
We want children to be able to live free from the threat and harm of sexual abuse. Our aim is to reduce the impact of CSA through improved prevention . . . and better response.
https://www.csacentre.org.uk

The All-Party Parliamentary Group on Knife Crime & Violence Reduction
The All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Knife Crime & Violence Reduction is a group of over 70 MPs and Peers, set up in response to the . . . alarming rise in knife crime across the country. The group aims to develop cross-party consensus from parliamentarians around new approaches to tackling knife crime, with particular focus on prevention and early intervention.
http://www.preventknifecrime.co.uk

Leaders Unlocked
Leaders Unlocked enables young people and underrepresented groups to have a stronger voice on the issues that affect their lives. In education, . . . policing, health, justice and elsewhere, we help organisations to involve the people who matter and shape decision-making for the better.
http://leaders-unlocked.org/

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