Keeping Ourselves Safe (KOS)
Keeping Ourselves Safe is a personal safety programme that aims to provide children and their parents /caregivers with the skills to cope with situations that might involve abuse.
Aim of Keeping Ourselves Safe
Keeping Ourselves Safe aims to:
1. teach children a range of safe practices they can use when interacting with other people
2. encourage children who have been, or are being, abused, to seek help;
3. contribute to an overall community abuse prevention programme by making parents more aware of their responsibilities to keep children safe.
Parentline offers a 31/2 week education group for children 5 – 13 years and their parents / caregivers. The aim of the group is help children to keep themselves safe from all forms of abuse.
Goals for Children to learn skills:
• To keep themselves safe
• To disclose immediately any unacceptable touching and/or past touching
• To reassure children they are not to blame; it is not their fault that they have been abused
• To respect others and not invade their personal space
Goals for Parents / Caregivers
• To teach caregivers some strategies to help keep children safe
• To know appropriate reactions to disclosures
• To have some resources to refer to, for example: agencies, reading material
• To teach care-givers safe practices for childcare/ baby sitting
How these goals will be met:
The following concepts will be addressed during group sessions;
• That you own your own body
• You have the right to say “no”
• To tell and keep on telling when you have worries about touching
• Identifying safe people to tell
• Recognise feelings – what is the difference
• Naming body parts
• You do not touch other people’s private parts
• Identifying unsafe situations
• Strategies to cope with unsafe situations
• That people take responsibility for their own actions
• To encourage children to disclose
• To teach parents and caregivers appropriate reactions to disclosures
• That children are not responsible and therefore are not to blame
• To respect other people’s feelings
• To teach caregivers safe practices for childcare/babysitting
• To provide caregivers with resources, eg. agencies, reading material
The groups take place every school term on Mondays and Fridays and can accommodate up to 8 children and caregivers.
Term 2 start date: Monday 3 May 2010 (9.30-11am)
Term 3 start date: Monday 26 July 2010 (9.30-11am) – Numbers dependant
Entry Criteria for KOS
Parentline offers a service to children who have suffered any form of abuse. Do you meet our entry criteria?
• Has your child experienced physical or sexual abuse?
• Has your child experienced from emotional abuse or neglect?
• Do you want to keep your child safe?
Facilitators
All Parentline facilitators are qualified social workers and counsellors. Our facilitators have experience in group facilitation and in individual one on one work with children and families.
Each group will have two facilitators, one to lead and a co-leader. Parentline operates a rotational group facilitation process to enable all facilitators to have in-depth experience across all Parentline groups.
Venue
All groups are held at Parentline House, 48 Plamerston Street Hamilton, however we are also able to deliver community based programmes. For more information about community based programmes please contact our Service Delivery Manager.
Referral Process
For children to access the group they will need to meet our entry criteria and apply at least one term before the commencement date to complete our assessment and intervention planning process. Children who access Parentline services can only access groups as a continuum of care which is part of a Stop Go therapy plan.
Please download and complete our referral form or contact our Intake Coordinator Lisa Herewini on 07 839 4536.