Preston grooming expert makes film to help worried parents and carers

Former teacher and youth worker Karen Livesey, from Preston, responded after youngsters’ use of social media spiralled while Lancashire youngsters were forced to continue their education and studies at home.

The Europol Exploitation report (June 2020) reported “while the number of young children accessing the internet has grown significantly over recent months, awareness of the potential risks remains low”.

Karen said: “I decided to take a proactive response to these issues concerning children and young people’s vulnerabilities online.

“It is important parents and carers ensure children and young people are using social media safely and not putting themselves at risk of inappropriate actions, online abuse, bullying or exploitation."

The 30 minute film gives information and highlights causes for concern regarding social media and child sexual exploitation with practical advice, a checklist, and websites.

In June the NSPCC said its helpline for adults has responded to more than 10,000 “child welfare contacts”, including calls and emails, since the start of the UK’s lockdown in March.

The previous month the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) and its partners blocked at least 8.8 million attempts by UK internet users during lockdown to access images of children suffering sexual abuse.

The video can be accessed at https://youtu.be/-EhDHVuLRtg