Today is our 7^th Child Exploitation Day, it started as a Child Sexual Exploitation Awareness Day but as we began to understand more and more about children exploited and the links between sexual exploitation and other forms of exploitation we change the heading last year to reflect that growth. 

Each year Cheryl works tirelessly to ensure the materials are ready for dissemination and monitors the days progress. Today at 8 am we were already ranking in the top national tweets with #CEADay21

We are aware of over 90 areas that are taking part in the campaign, doing everything from police visiting schools to buildings being lit up in our colours including the #saysomething words.

It is clear that there are going to see a significant increase in the number of children who have been groomed online during the lockdown. Helping us all to recognise the signs, and seek support is key to acting early is crucial.

We are immensely proud of the way many areas have embedded the campaign into their annual plans and this is the first year we have seen the day really begin to have its own momentum, thank you to everyone who has embraced the opportunity to raise awareness of the issues.

There is a saying ‘it takes a village to raise a child’ but I say ‘it takes society to stop the abuse and exploitation of our children.’

Everyone together, public services, retail, trade, leisure, communities, neighbourhoods, friends and families can make a difference if we say ‘something if we see something.’

Thank you for your support.

Sheila Taylor MBE CEO

NWG Network