Member News
12th October 2011
A new website, driving forward the government's work on tackling the commercialisation and sexualisation of childhood, will allow adults to take some "control back", a leading expert in preventing child sexual abuse has said.
Donald Findlater, director of research and development at the Lucy Faithfull Foundation, speaking at the charity's annual review launch, said whether it is an advert, or a television programme that is wrongly geared towards children because it is expressly sexual or whether it is online material, having one website, ParentPort, to go and complain about this will allow adults to "exercise some responsibility".
He went on to say that although sex isn't something we are particularly comfortable talking about in the UK, children are going to be exposed to it on television and on the internet, or through advertising, so it is important that parents have the tools at their disposal to address this effectively.
"We need to have wise, sensible conversations with children at an early enough stage, and with their parents, so sex is not something to be afraid of or run away from," he said.
The Lucy Faithfull Foundation (LFF) is the only UK-wide child protection charity dedicated solely to reducing the risk of children being sexually abused. Committed to preventing child sexual abuse, Findlater said the charity takes an "upstream" approach.
"You have to do something before there is a child hurt, because we know most children aren't going to speak," he said.
As part of the government's commitment to tackling the commercialisation and sexualisation of childhood, four internet service providers – BT, Sky, Talk Talk and Virgin – have announced that all customers will receive an active choice at the point of purchase over whether they want to block adult content on their home internet or laptops.
Chief executive of the Lucy Faithfull Foundation, Hilary Eldridge said that the charity is increasingly working with internet abuse. Through internet safety seminars run in schools, she said on average "95 per cent of parents felt more confident" in protecting their children online.
The charity also has a major project, working with internet offenders and their families.
Stop it Now!, the campaigning arm of the Lucy Faithfull Foundation, also runs a helpline. The helpline aims to address specific target groups, including adult abusers and potential abusers as well as family and friends who are encouraged to recognise signs of abusive behaviour in people close to them.
Convinced that with greater resources the helpline could reach out to a far great number of people, Findlater said, "We would love to be able to promote the helpline more."
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