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Morcombe Child Safety Report

Decent Essays

Threatened with a gun and remarks to “never to see your mommy again”, a six year old boy was abducted on his way home from school. Terrified by further threats that he would be “nailed to the wall of the shed”, the boy was taken to a basement for four hours. Bound by his hands and feet with plastic bags, his pants removed, he was further told he would be “sold into sex slavery”. The abductor is his uncle. The instigators of this tragedy, his Mother and Grandmother.
In February (2015), a six-year-old boy, in the United States, was ‘taught’ this appalling ‘lesson’ as he was considered to be “too nice” and needed to know the dangers of the world.
It is a fine line between encouragement and education, versus insecurity and fear. In Australia, …show more content…

In 2006 the USA handled over 80% more child pornography cases within a ten year span. In Australia, a 30% rise within two years. In Victoria alone, the sex offenders register is growing by 500 per year. The message we pass to our children must be clear and concise. It also needs to be accurate.
Fortunately, plenty of support is available for all parents. Tracey, from the Daniel Morcombe Foundation advises “The Daniel Morcombe Child Safety Curriculum starts from Prep, as does the Keeping Kids Safe Resource Kit, however, we know this is also widely used in kindergartens. As it is difficult to teach children under 4 years old safety strategies (on the internet), it is advised that they are supervised at all times.”
Another key development for this modern world is the new phone app designed for children. The “Help Me” app is designed specifically for children in unsafe situations. Pressing the app sounds an alarm and sends two text messages to pre-installed safety numbers. Included in the text is the GPS coordinates of the location the text is sent from. Considering 80% of all stranger abductions occurs within 500 meters of the child’s home, this app is a must have for all children. The “Help Me” app has already been successfully used for this

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