Helping Children and Young People Stay Safe Online – Safeguarding Matters

Online Safety for Children

The Ann Craft Trust and The Marie Collins Foundation have collaborated to produce a resource to help parents and children understand various online risks.

Due for publication mid July 2021, the resource is a leaflet called “Sexual Abuse Online – Helping My Autistic Child.” It will be available as an online PDF, but you’ll also be able to contact The Ann Craft Trust or The Marie Collins Foundation to request a hard copy.

The leaflet begins by explaining the sorts of risks children and young people might face online. But the leaflet also lists the various ways being online can benefit autistic children. So rather than advising parents to prevent their children from going online, it instead offers various tips on staying safe. For example, it lists ways you can start essential conversations with autistic children to help them understand risk.

In this podcast, Deborah Kitson chats with Rhiannon-Faye McDonald from the Marie Collins Foundation, and The Ann Craft Trust’s Sarah Goff. They talk about the challenges they faced when producing this resource. Mainly, how can we make such a broad and complex issue as accessible as possible?

Listen below: