A Message from Michele

You may have noticed that Kidscape has been commenting in the media quite a bit lately on children’s issues.   Happy Slapping hit the headlines as a 15 year old finalist in the X Factor was allegedly caught attacking a girl then posting it on a website.  The finalist withdrew from the X Factor and her mother issued an unconditional apology to the girl, the school and Sharon Osborne, who had sponsored the finalist.  I said on BBC Breakfast that there would be a death if this craze for attacking people and filming it went on.  Well, in the paper this morning is the headline:  ‘Happy Slappers ‘film fire killing’.  A 13 and a 17 year old have been arrested on suspicion of murder.  It makes me profoundly sad for the victim.

I’ve also been talking about the female tennis coach who was convicted of sexually abusing a 13 year old girl.  Reports of women as child sex abusers are unusual, but we do know it happens.  One of my books, Female Sexual Abuse of Children; The Last Taboo, is on this subject.  I suspect there are more cases than are reported because it seems abuse by women is discounted or not believed, just as we found the scale of sexual abuse of children hard to believe back in the 1970s.

This month marked the 6 month anniversary of the disappearance of Madeline McCann.   I cannot even begin to imagine the pain the McCanns are going through.  Years ago I met the mother and grandfather of Ben Needham, kidnapped at age 2.  He would now be 18, and they have never stopped looking for him.  Ben’s mother is a remarkable person who said that she, too, had been vilified and could empathise with the McCann’s trauma. We hope for a miracle for both of these lost children, just two of many around the world.

There is one item that might not have come to your notice and that is that a recent report on risk from Tim Gill published by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation.  To our astonishment, the report stated that I felt that bullying was ‘all hurtful behaviour.’  Nothing could be further from the truth – Kidscape and I have always been clear:  we define bullying as a deliberate, sustained attack designed to cause pain, and that there is unequal power between the bully and the targeted child.

Of course we are upset at this misrepresentation and are waiting for a reply from Mr Gill and the Foundation. 

I’ll end on one of the most exciting things that has ever happened to Kidscape – Eddie Stobart and Coca Cola put on a fundraising event evening for us last month and raised over half our annual budget.  Have a look on the website for more details.  It was the most amazing night for a small charity and we are still over the moon about it.

November and December promise to be even busier.  I’ll keep you posted!

Michele Elliott, CEO

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