Medway Council is supporting National Child Exploitation Awareness Day on Monday, 18 March.
Today (Monday, 18 March), the ‘Exploitation Conference: Be aware. Be brave. Be curious’, Medway’s first conference centred on exploitation, is being held at Priestfield Stadium.
The conference is being hosted by Medway Council, in partnership with the Kent and Medway Violence Reduction Unit, the Kent Police and Crime Commissioner and the Medway Safeguarding Children Partnership.
Aimed at professionals and community partners who work with young people, the conference is being held to raise awareness of exploitation and encourage them to ‘Be aware. Be brave. Be curious.’
Those at the event have the opportunity to hear from experts, including Dr Jenny Lloyd, Assistant Professor working in the Contextual Safeguarding Research Team at Durham University, as well as Phil Brewer, a lecturer and honorary research fellow at St Mary’s University and specialist advisor at the Human Trafficking Foundation, and Aisosa Henkoma, a Lived Experience Advisory Panel consultant with the Human Trafficking Foundation.
The conference is being opened by Cllr Vince Maple, Leader of Medway Council, with closing thoughts from Dr Lee-Anne Farach, Medway Council’s Deputy Chief Executive and Director of People.
Four interactive workshops are also taking place throughout the day. The workshops are being run by Oasis Restore, Medway Council, Salus and the Kent and Medway Violence Reduction Unit and focus on the key theme of being aware, brave and curious to help build both knowledge and confidence in recognising the signs of exploitation and how to intervene.
There is also a marketplace where attendees can find out about the work a wide range of services are doing to combat child exploitation. Attendees can find out more about the Medway Safeguarding Children Partnership, Kent Police, OpenRoad, Catch22, Bernardo’s National Counter Trafficking Centre, Medway Youth Service and many more.
Cllr Adam Price, Medway Council’s Portfolio Holder for Children’s Services, said: “I think it is really important that we are holding this conference in Medway to help raise awareness around the issue of child exploitation. Child exploitation is a complex and sensitive issue, but it is one that needs to be tackled collaboratively. This conference aims to help inform people of the signs to look out for and educate them on what they can do to help, and I want to thank every organisation, service and individual who is taking part and helping to raise awareness.”
To find out more about children and families social care in Medway, visit: Medway.gov.uk/ChildrenAndFamily