About Kidscape Children's Charity
Kidscape works UK-wide to provide individuals and organisations with the practical skills and resources necessary to keep children safe from harm. Kidscape staff equip vulnerable children with practical, non-threatening knowledge and skills in how to keep themselves safe and reduce the likelihood of future harm.
Kidscape works with children and young people under the age of 16, their parents/carers, and those who work with them.
To this end, Kidscape offers:
- A Helpline offering support and advice to parents of bullied children
- Booklets, Literature, Posters, Training Guides, Educational Videos on bullying, child protection, and parenting
- Child Safety Training
- Advice and Research
- Confidence Building Sessions for children who are bullied
All of Kidscape's programmes are designed with the aim of:
- Ensuring Children's physical and mental health
- Promoting personal safety
- Improving communication skills
- Boosting self-esteem and confidence levels
- Encouraging good friendship skills
- Improving children's education and future job prospects
- Supporting the whole families' happiness
Kidscape's help and information is adaptable for children with special needs and is available in many languages, as well as in Braille and Large Print.
Kidscape feels that this kind of work is vital given the frightening statistics that:
- Each year, 10-14 youth suicides are directly attributed to bullying (The Home Office)
- Bullied children are 6 times more likely to contemplate suicide than their non-bullied counterparts
- 1 in 12 children are badly bullied to the point that it affects their education, relationships and even their prospects for jobs in later life
- 66% of paedophiles are known to the child
Kidscape is small and extremely cost-effective children's charity-all funds raised go directly to the people who need them.
Our history
Kidscape, the campaign for children's safety, was founded in 1984 by Dr Michele Elliott, mother and child psychologist, with the aim of teaching children personal safety.
With the help of parents, carers, teachers, police and other caring professionals, children are taught ways to deal with bullies, approaches by strangers, and even known adults who may try to harm them.
Where other charities offer after-the-fact support, Kidscape works to keep children safe before harm occurs.
Kidscape's work is based on the premise that:
- All children have the right as individuals to the knowledge and skills that will help them be safe, independent and to be able to express their feelings and concerns
- All adults have the responsibility to keep children safe, to listen to the feelings and concerns of children and take them seriously
Kidscape was the first nation-wide prevention programme for children dealing with personal safety. Kidcape's child protection programmes are based on three pilot projects.
The first project (1984-1986) involved a two-year study with 4000 children, their parents and teachers. Although stranger danger was widely taught to children by police school liaison officers, the pilot studies revealed that the main threat to children was in fact from people known to them-bullies, friends, or even family members.
Kidscape programmes are now taught UK-wide in thousands of schools and community groups. More than two million children throughout the UK have been taught Kidscape's Child Protection Programme, although this figures grows every day. Every year Kidscape advises more than 16,000 children and parents through its anti-bullying Helpline. It distributes more than 250 'Bully-packs' each week.
In 1998, SmithKline Beecham awarded Kidscape an Impact Award recognising Kidscape's work in improving community health.
In January 2000, Kidscape organised The Children's Champions, sponsored by Del Monte, recognising more than 365 celebrities, teachers, solicitors, charity workers, journalists, entrepreneurs, parents and children …anyone and everyone who did something wonderful to help children.
In September 2000, Kidscape was proud to receive the Charity Times UK Charity of the Year.
Rory Bremner, presenting the award, said:
"Kidscape is an innovative and lively group with clear ideas about its programmes dealing with issues in original, varied and successful ways. The group works directly with those it is trying to help and the small size of its team make its achievements this year even more remarkable."