MISSING CHILDREN… EVEN MORE MISSING CHILDHOODS.

Widespread hysteria about rare cases of missing children is causing many more of today’s children to miss out on the traditional freedoms of childhood, as they are no longer allowed to play outdoors. But continual supervision and over-cautious parenting mean that many children simply do not have the practical skills to seek help if they do get lost or feel unsafe.

Now the Children’s Safety Education Foundation (CSEF) have launched a new initiative at the House of Commons on Wednesday 7th May 2008. In response to the Government’s recently published Staying Safe Action Plan, CSEF’s campaign aims to give children a much more positive framework of advice on how to identify ‘Safer Strangers, Safer Buildings’.

As the Staying Safe Action Plan states, ‘Keeping children and young people safe is everyone’s responsibility… We need to find a balance between protecting children and young people and allowing them the freedom to develop and enjoy their childhoods… Children need to know what is safe and what is not, they can not do this if they are not given the appropriate freedom to learn for themselves.”

The Safer Strangers, Safer Buildings campaign is designed for children who get lost, or feel unsafe and offers commonsense guidance to help them to recognise safe adults to approach and buildings they could go into to ask for help. The initiative has been piloted in the North West and is based on Home Office guidance, which encourages children to identify adults who would be able to help them in an emergency.

Sponsored by John Leech MP, the new initiative was launched in the Jubilee Room of the House of Commons and is being backed by several charities in the field of child safety, as well as a broad cross section of police, politicians and private sponsors. Speakers at the event includedl Liam McGurrin from the Children’s Safety Education Foundation, plus Steven Gauge from Suzy Lamplugh Trust, Kidscape’s Michele Elliot and ‘Toxic Childhood’ author Sue Palmer.

Liam McGurrin, of the Children’s Safety Education Foundation, said, “Many children are so frightened of strangers that they panic when they lose their parents, even if it’s only for a brief period of time. By giving the children a straightforward common sense strategy for what to do if they get lost, this initiative could save families a lot of anxiety and worry.

The campaign will feature a film produced by children’s documentary experts, Childs Eye Media, that will help even the very young to understand the straightforward message of the campaign. Entitled, ‘Teigan gets lost’, the short film shows 6 year-old Teigan using the Safer Strangers, Safer Buildings strategy when she gets lost in a supermarket. The film also includes a section shot in a school showing Greater Manchester Police Officer, Helena Hodgson, explaining the initiative to a group of school children.

Liam McGurrin explains, “It will help youngsters to pick out responsible people to ask for help such as bank and shop staff, traffic wardens, police and community support officers. What’s more, it will help children to spot safer buildings to go in to such as banks, post offices, supermarkets, shops, libraries, medical centres and other community facilities.”

The Children’s Safety Education Foundation is promoting the film at a series of events and locations during 2008. The film is also available to view free of charge to schools, parents, and children at . . . .

www.childseyemedia.com

Liam McGurrin, concludes, “Safer Strangers, Safer Buildings presents a positive alternative to the more dominant ‘stranger danger’ messages, which can make children over anxious about the perceived risk from all strangers. Educationalists, politicians and parents are now beginning to realise that something more positive is needed if we are to encourage our children to be independent and make sensible decisions for themselves, rather than keep them wrapped in cotton wool,” he concludes.