The awful practice of handcuffing children during transport must end | Sarah Champion

The awful practice of handcuffing children during transport must end | Sarah Champion The awful practice of handcuffing children during transport must end | Sarah Champion Local authorities often use private service providers to transport children in their care, but unlike schools or care homes, transport providers are not required to report when they restrain or use handcuffs on a child That’s why I'm supporting the “Hope instead of Handcuffs” campaign, which is calling for instances of restraint against looked-after children in private transport to be reported to the proper authorities, as well as an end to the handcuffing, restraining or caging of ch...

“A leader has to lead from the front”: Serenity Welfare’s Emily Aklan discusses the leadership philosophy behind her success and her post-Covid ambitions

...ut in our secure transportation vehicles and work alongside our full-time staff directly. A key part of leadership for me is understanding what everyone in your business is doing and this was the best way for me to get a feel for that.” At the age of 18, long before the birth of Serenity Welfare, Emily embarked on a career as an estate agent and laid down roots in the construction industry after discovering that she had a natural entrepreneurial streak. She developed an enviable profile in the sector, became a director of the board for the company she worked for by the age of 31, and then went on to set-up her own project-directing consultancy which operated...

Emily Aklan is the founder and chief executive of Serenity Welfare, an organisation that offers comprehensive welfare services for children and young people.

...table and secure transport services to ensure each child and young person feels a sense of self-worth in a relaxed environment. They have a 100 per cent success rate in ‘stress free’, compassionate and therapeutic journeys. Serenity Welfare also offers 24/7 wrap around care, crisis intervention services, talks and presentations on gangs and county lines, and high-quality mentoring services so that vulnerable children receive the positive and consistent nurturing they need. The organisation’s staff are fully trained in de-escalation and mentoring and have never used and vow to never use handcuffs to restrain children. One young person that Serenity Welfar...

The Government must take action to stop data gaps from putting our children at risk

...an in the secure transportation of care-experienced children. If a child living in or on the edge of care needs to be transported between care homes or other secure settings, or taken to school, hospital or other appointments, local authorities regularly hire private secure transportation providers to carry out these journeys. Many of these providers place these children – who have not committed nor been suspected of committing a crime – in handcuffs or subject them to other forms of restraint, including chemical, despite the long-term impact this can have on a child’s health, wellbeing and development. But like other harmful practices in England’s car...

Hertfordshire children’s rights campaign named Social Enterprise Businesswoman of the Year 2022

...e private secure transportation providers to carry out these journeys. Shockingly, many children find that they are automatically put in handcuffs by their transportation provider. A child does not need to be considered “high risk” to be put in handcuffs: a child who displays even the slightest sign of distress risks being subject to handcuffs or other forms of restraint.   To be clear, we are referring to innocent children in the UK’s care system being handcuffed by private organisations whilst being securely transported. Not children who have been involved or are suspected of being involved in criminal activity being handcuffed by police. We know tha...

Corona news

...Dear Colleagues, We want to write to you directly to keep you informed of the steps we are taking to ensure our Serenity Team are prepared for all scenarios relating to the Coronavirus as our number one priority is for the safety of the children and young people we work with Keeping all our children and young people safe is our primary focus and we are therefore prioritising additional actions including increasing cleaning across our office, the locations in which we work and in our transport vehicles. It is worth remembering that although COVID-19 is receiving much attention, it is still relatively confined. However as this is an unusual scenario fo...