AFRUCA SAFEGUARDING CHILDREN
Help us to protect more children in our community
With offices in London and Manchester, we work in UK Black and Ethnic communities to protect and safeguard children from abuse, modern slavery and exploitation. We tackle cultural and religious practices that harm children.
Our
Services
Free Safeguarding and Child Protection Training for Faith Leaders and Workers in Hackney
We are delighted to partner with City and Hackney Safeguarding Children Partnership to deliver free, comprehensive full day training for faith leaders, workers and volunteers in local Black and African churches, mosques and other places of worship across Hackney.
The training course is aimed to address the disproportionate number of African and Caribbean families who are referred into the child protection system because of incidences of inappropriate physical chastisement of children. AFRUCA and Hackney are aware that the parenting of children in most of these families is good and the incidents of chastisement relate more to parental understanding (about what is acceptable or not in terms of chastisement), as opposed to there being any underlying abusive intent.
This training course will be culturally focused and will empower faith workers to become confident in talking to parents/ carers directly about safeguarding children in the context of their Church, Mosque or place of worship and help them to better understand the law and expectations surrounding physical chastisement
By the end of the training course, participants will gain new knowledge and understanding of safeguarding, how physical chastisement can be harmful to children and how to keep children safe in the place of worship. They will also understand how to assess risks of harm to children in the faith setting.
We will hold three different sessions of full day training (10am to 4pm) for up to 30 participants. The first event will take place on Saturday 16 November 2024.
If your faith group is based in Hackney and you are interested in participating in the free training, please complete a short Interest Form here.
AFRUCA Consultation With Black and Ethnic Parents in the UK Child Protection System
on 3 September 2024, AFRUCA will hold a closed consultative meeting with Black and Ethnic parents who have been involved in local authority child protection processes across the country.
We would like to explore with participants their experiences of race inequality, discrimination and familial exclusion. Our aim is to utilise learning from this activity to help advocate for improvements in national child protection policy and local practices, while we continue to provide parents with the utmost support and training to help improve parenting capacity and enhance protection for their children.
This is a closed, confidential meeting with our current and recent service users.
It’s Time to Address the Racial Disparities Experienced by Black Children
In this blog for AFRUCA website, AFRUCA CEO Debbie Ariyo argues that the time is right to address the racial disparities experienced by children in Black and ethnic communities across the country.
Read more
The Knowledge Mobilisation For Public Health Research Project
We are delighted to be part of a team of experts working on this important project - the Knowledge Mobilisation for Public Health Project (KNOW-PH). Funded by the NIHR (National Institute for Health and Care Research), KNOW-PH aims to bring research evidence generated by NIHR closer to local and national public health decision-making. The project is a partnership between University of Nottingham, Sheffield Hallam University, University of Sheffield, City of Doncaster Council and AFRUCA Safeguarding Children. This is a three year project.
Read more on the project website here
AFRUCA Training Brochure For Agencies Working With Black and Ethnic Children and Families 2024-2025
Over the past twenty three years, AFRUCA Safeguarding Children has gained a wealth of knowledge and experience delivering specialist training courses aimed at enhancing the knowledge, skills and confidence of practitioners working with children and their families from diverse backgrounds. We work with agencies nation-wide and across Europe to design relevant training courses which are delivered inhouse - face to face or remotely.
Our 2024-2025 training brochure for agencies working with Black and Ethnic children and families has been released.
Join AFRUCA Talks: Our Free Online Forum For Parents
Sessions resume on Saturday 7 September 2024
AFRUCA #10 ASKs From the New UK Government
Based on our work with children and families, here are our 10 asks from the new UK government to help improve outcomes for children in Black and ethnic communities. Click on image to read more on our instagram page
AFRUCA News: August 2024 Activities
As part of our Phoenix Project for Young Women and Girls at Risk of Exploitation, we organised a series of summer events for young people. These activities helped to provide children with positive activities during the holidays, boosted confidence, improved problem-solving skills and physical fitness whilst creating unforgettable memories and new friendships.
Community Engagement and Education are at the heart of our work at AFRUCA to prevent child abuse, trafficking, exploitation and modern slavery.
Contact us to arrange a session delivered by our staff and volunteer Children’s Champions for your agency, church, mosque, school or community group.
Child Protection Community Engagement and Education
The Guide: Understanding Child Protection In The UK
The "Guide" covers a range of subjects to support parents to strengthen their parenting knowledge and skills, identify risks of harm inside and outside the home and ultimately improve protection and safety for their children.
What People Say About AFRUCA
Ongoing
Activities
AFRUCA Public Facing Events Calendar
We’ve Been Safeguarding Children Since 2001
Prompted by the deaths of a number of newly arrived child ren in the UK, Debbie Ariyo, a former Civil Servant, founded AFRUCA in 2001 to address child safeguarding and child trafficking issues in African diaspora communities and provide services to help support children and families and rehabilitate victims.
Debbie Ariyo OBE - Founder and CEO
AFRUCA’s 20th Anniversary Documentary Video
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People
Our Current and Recent Funders