CCChat-Magazine_3

Some offenders will be very careful and
charming and nice. Some mix it up. Some
have completely different approaches.
We are guilty of only ever showing one
type of sex offender in CSE films and
resources and it’s totally unrealistic.
Don’t show online abuse as some fat old
ugly bloke posing as a teenager online to
groom kids, the research does not support
this at all – and it is causing a narrative in
professionals all over the UK who think
that online abuse is a sex offender who
poses as children and then ‘tricks’ them
into meeting them.
There is way too much ‘consultancy’ going
on around these CSE films and resources
where professionals are telling the
developers that the resource is unethical
or incorrect and then the organisation
ploughs ahead and releases it anyway.
I know of at least two resources in the
public domain that were opposed by
experts but were released anyway by the
organisation.
What is the point of holding consultations
if you ignore the experts you invited?
Accept that you might not get the answer
you hoped for.
“Don’t show online abuse as some fat old ugly bloke posing
as a teenager online to groom kids, the research does
not support this at all.”
Avoid a misleading title full of buzzwords
and sensation. Personally, I think that
‘Kayleigh’s Love Story’ is an insult to her
and should have been boycotted the
second it crept out of someone’s mouth.
It’s not catchy or clever to call a video
about a sexual homicide of a child a ‘love
story’.
Do not sell, roll out or deliver a resource
or film that has not been tested
empirically and independently.
In fact, only make a resource or film if
you have sought an expert panel which
includes child, clinical or forensic
psychologists at a bare minimum.
Go to your local universities and ask for a
reviewing panel. Ask for ethical review.
Go and get experts to be your critical
friends and listen to them.
What is the effect of your resource? How
does it work? How do you know? Does it
work the same for all children? Does it
work better for some over others? Why?
Do children benefit from this? How? How
long for? How do you know? Is there any
difference between the children who have
never seen your film/resource and the
children you used it with? How do you
know? How will you test this?
Evaluation is vital. There are so many
CSE films and resources that make
massive claims to reduce abuse, increase
knowledge, protect children, enable them
to spot the signs of abuse, escape abuse,
realise what is happening to them – but
no evidence and no empirical testing.
This is an edited version.
The full blog can be found on:
victimfocus.wordpress.com
CCChat Magazine - Making the Invisible Visible