New animations created by young people to help professionals in Scotland understand how best to respond to children who have been harmed online are being shared across the world to inform international practice.
The animations were created by Erin and Jamie-Leigh, two young people who have both been personally affected by online harm with support from Children First, Scotland’s national children’s charity. The series of animations for social workers, teachers and police were created by the charity and the young people in response to research showing that children in Scotland feel that professionals didn’t know how to respond to online harm.
Jamie-Leigh said: “We hope these animations will help social workers understand how to respond and the impact that online harm has on children’s mental health.”
Mary Glasgow, chief executive of Children First said: “The children we spoke to talked about a range of issues from how intimidating it can feel to talk to a police officer to how stressful it can be to pulled out of lessons without notice and your class watching you.
“It’s clear that what children who have been harmed online want most is for professionals to build an understanding and trusting relationship with them.”
“We are very grateful to Erin and Jamie Leigh for sharing their experiences to help other children, not just in Scotland but across the world. We hope that professionals will find the animations a useful resource for considering how to better support children and young people and share them far and wide.”
After launching the animations at an international conference in Alabama in March, the animation are being shared at a European event in Brussels on 20th May for professionals who are delivering or developing a multi-agency Bairns Hoose or Barnahus approach to support children who are harmed or abused.
In 2023 Children First opened Scotland’s first Bairns Hoose in North Strathclyde in partnership with four local authorities and other statutory organisations. The charity is now supporting the role out of Bairns Hoose across a number of Scottish regions including in Ayrshire, Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire.
In addition to the animations for police, teachers and social workers, an animation has also been created by Children First to help parents and carers to understand how they can keep children safe online.
The full series of animations can be viewed here: Online harm advice and resources for professionals | Children First
The animations were developed as part of the European Union funded ELPIS research project, which promotes excellence in international practice in responding to online child sexual abuse, in partnership with the European Barnahus/Child Houses and the PROMISE Barnahus network.