Our Safeguarding Children Partnership for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly is supporting the annual ‘Stop It Now’ Campaign, which is due to start on Monday 4 March 2024 and will run throughout the month. The campaign aims to raise awareness that viewing sexual images of under-18s is illegal, causes huge harm to children, and that there are serious consequences for the viewer including arrest, imprisonment, and job loss. It promotes awareness of the Stop It Now helpline that can offer help to people who are concerned about their own or someone else’s sexual thoughts or behaviours.
Stop It Now is a scheme run by the Lucy Faithfull Foundation, the only UK-wide charity dedicated solely to preventing child sexual abuse. The scheme is available for anyone with concerns about child sexual abuse and its prevention. It offers support to those with concerns over the behaviour of others, and for those who are worried about their own thoughts or behaviour. This campaign is designed to highlight the support available and give local efforts a significant boost.
The campaign last year resulted in visits to the Stop It Now website increasing by 67% in Devon and 271% in Cornwall (compared with the same period in the previous year).
What you can do
There are different ways in which you can support the campaign.
- Ensure you’re familiar with organisational child safeguarding policy and protocols.
- Attend the free webinar series which cover aspects of preventing Child Sexual Abuse (CSA)
- Be informed about the SARC service for children and adults who’ve experienced sexual abuse and assault.
- Create opportunities for those you have contact with to disclose to you that they’ve experienced sexual abuse. This can include being mindful of possible indicators, creating a safe environment when you have contact and proactively asking whether the person has experienced abuse.