Parent participation update, January 2023
A very Happy New Year to everyone and welcome to our Parent Newsletter where we share how you can get involved and how parents and Pace have been working together to create change.
Upcoming events
If you would like to get involved in any of the following events, please get in touch
Training professionals
This is an opportunity for parents signed on to parent participation to develop training for professionals with the focus ‘what you need to know about child exploitation – parents’ perspective.’ If you are interested in this, you can be involved in a way that best suits you- from sending in your thoughts via email, having a chat over the phone, joining focus groups to discuss the content and delivery, creating video or audio resources, to actually delivering the course. The training will include all forms of child exploitation- online abuse, sexual and criminal exploitation. As always there is no pressure to be involved, but if you’d like to register your interest and haven’t done so already, drop me a line
“It has given me the opportunity to think about how advice is delivered and how it may be heard and received by parents. To think about guilt, blame and shame and to mitigate against these. To ensure transparency and collaboration with parents.”
Attendee at Pace training after hearing a parent speak
Parent open group – April 2023
You are warmly invited to attend a parent open group at the Leeds Pace office either in person or online. These meetings offer the opportunity for parents and carers to join together and focus on the kinds of actions we can take to create better safeguarding outcomes for children and young people and more effective and supportive responses to parents and families. If you want to register your interest, or know more, just get in touch.
Recent activities
A huge thanks to all of the parents who have worked alongside Pace to make the following possible:
Parents have consulted with:
- What to include in a new safeguarding app with Shaping Limited
- The parents’ perspective when Tackling Child Exploitation Programme
- Digital harm in young people through the Exploitation prevention programme in East Midlands
Parents have presented at training and conferences to:
- Social workers in a local authority
- Various professionals at Pace Advanced Child Exploitation course
- Professionals at Pace ACSEP Course
- Professionals at a Safeguarding Conference in Devon
- Police at the Regional Organised Crime Unite Conference
Parents have contributed to the following publications with:
- Interviewing for BBC Politics North to highlight the impact criminal exploitation has on families
- Writing articles for the parents newsletter
- Supporting new Pace training on neurodiversity
Fundraising
One of our amazing parents has raised over £5,000 by doing some incredible challenges (including walking 100 miles) in memory of her son who very sadly passed away in 2020.
Further activities include:
- Leicestershire Police have asked to embed Towards Hope in their website for parents and carers.
- Parent participation created a map outlining the themes of parents’ concerns, how Pace is responding as well as potential development avenues. This was born from frustrations voiced by parents about the lack of change for affected families. The mapping aims to create better communication between Pace and parents as well as identify gaps and focus the priorities of parent participation.
“[Parent] was amazing, the strength she has had to find to uproot and start again to protect her children is unreal.”
BBC Producer and Journalist
Please get in touch if you could like to get involved with any of our upcoming training, open groups and consultations.
Nancy Pike,
Parent Participation Coordinator
nancy.pike@paceuk.info