Kinship Care Grooming The only UKwide charity dedicated

Kinship Care & Grooming The only UK-wide charity dedicated solely to tackling child sexual abuse

Learning Recap What can you recall learning from the last module? What changes have you made as a result?

Learning Outcomes To explore definitions of grooming To recognise signs and indications a young person is being groomed To develop plans to reduce the risk of a young person being groomed To understand the signs and indicators of peer abuse To develop plans to reduce the risk of a young person behaving in a harmful way to their peers

What is grooming? What comes to mind when you hear the word grooming. What do you know, if anything? What would you like to know?

Defining online grooming The act of encouraging someone to talk about sex, to do something sexual or to share personal sexual information even when the person does not want to. Ybarra et al 2007, p. S 32

Defining grooming? • Grooming is when someone builds an emotional connection with a child to gain their trust in preparation of sexual abuse, sexual exploitation or trafficking to occur. • Can be online or face-to-face, by a stranger or by someone they know • Groomers may be male or female. They could be any age. • Many children and young people don't understand or recognise that they have been groomed. (NSPCC, 2016)

Messages from research • A Freedom of Information request made by the NSPCC (2019) to police forces in England Wales shows there were at least 4, 373 offences of sexual communication with a child recorded in the year to April 2019 compared with 3, 217 in the previous year. Where age was provided, 1 in 5 victims were aged just 11 or younger • Wolak and Finkelhor (2013) reported that, in 2009, in the US 8% of of arrests for sexual crimes involving online • 43% of the perpetrators were ages 18 -25 • Shannon (2008) found that in Sweden 21% of grooming offences involving online only contact were by people under the age of 18

The Grooming Triangle How might a potential groomer use the internet to achieve the different aspects represented in this model? What might they do? Dr W. Welner, adapted by Barnados

How do adults groom children & young people online? Giving them space Treating them like an adult Deception and threats Young people who have unmet needs and those who are confused about their sexuality maybe targeted by adults. The adult may reassure them and persuade them that sex between adults and children is ok. They may flatter the child, give them compliments and give them time. Many young people complain they wanted to be treated like an adult. Responsible adults will treat young people in line with their best interests and the law. Abusive adults will use the young person’s desire to behave in adult ways to manipulate them into thinking they are consenting. Some adults lie about their age but many do not. The adult is more likely to start out being persuasive before they move onto using threats. Having already engaged with the persuasive tactics the child can find it difficult to reach out for help.

How do young people groom other young people online? Fake friends Young people might befriend vulnerable young people. At first they might seem nice, play online games, chat etc but they also try to get the young person to do illegal things, become dependent on them and isolate them from friends and family. Fake Profiles Due to their stage of development young people are often less organised in the way they groom, trick or manipulate their peers however sometimes they create fake profiles in order to trick their peers into sending sexual content. Deception and threats Young people who groom others online can isolate the victim from their friends and family. They can make them think other people don’t care about them.

Breck’s last game For a worse case scenario watch this video. Please be aware that this includes descriptions of extreme violence, sexual abuse and murder.

Breck’s friends To explore the impact on Breck’s friend, watch this video. Please be aware that this includes descriptions of extreme violence, sexual abuse and murder.

Breck’s mum To hear from Breck’s mum, watch this video. Please be aware that this includes descriptions of extreme violence, sexual abuse and murder.

Your thoughts… How do you feel, having watched these films? How did Lewis groom Breck? How did he drive a wedge between Breck and hid family?

What can we do? Spend some time coming up with ideas to reduce the risk of: a) The young person you care for being groomed b) The young person you care for grooming another child

Prevention online grooming Explain what grooming is Young people often connect more with terms like ‘taking advantage of’ ‘being tricked’ ‘catfished’ or manipulated. Develop a plan as to what they will do if there were being groomed or found out a friend is being groomed. Be on their side Young people need to feel like someone has their back even when things go wrong. You can correct the young person’s behaviour while also showing how much you love and care for them. If they have made mistakes you can also Be a lighthouse Young people need to be able to trust you enough to reach out to you when things get rocky. Don’t panic if you become aware of some online behaviour that needs correcting. . Young people will make mistakes, you can guide them back on the right path

Prevention online grooming Share you emotional intelligence While you might not be a techno whiz you do know about how to initiate and maintain relationships. Help the young person in your life develop a healthy suspicion of others. Help them understand ‘red flags’ eg someone who tries to get you to break the law/do things you don’t want to/isolates you from your friends and family. Good Communication Have regular check in slots with the young person/people in you life Balancing rights and responsibilities Help the young person in your life understand their rights and responsibilities online. Encourage them to think about how they can be kind online. Reassure them you will be there if they need help. A child is never responsible if an adult grooms and manipulates them

Final Reflections How are you feeling after learning all this? What will you remember from the module? Will you do anything differently because of what we’ve covered?