Child Protection: Help and advice for children and young people

As a young person, you have the right to grow up safe and free from the threat of being hurt, physically or emotionally, or not being cared for properly. All the adults in your life have a legal responsibility to protect you.  

If something is worrying you, making you scared, or you’re worried about someone else and not sure yet if it is abuse or not, it’s important to talk to someone you trust like your parent or carer, friend, teacher or another adult, even if you’re not sure. 

If it’s an emergency call 999  

You can contact Childline by either text, email or phoning their free 24 hour helpline on 0800 1111.  

You can also text the NSPCC helpline anonymously on 88858. 

If you would like to get some help locally contact the Waltham Forest Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) team:

Call 020 8496 2310 (Monday to Thursday 9am to 5.15pm, Friday 9am to 5pm) or 020 8496 3000 (out of hours). 

A social worker from MASH will speak to you. 

If you feel frightened, threatened, worried, or unsafe about anything that has happened whilst using the internet – whether it’s on social media (e.g. Snapchat, Tik Tok, Twitter, Instagram etc) or anywhere else on the internet – you should report it, as you have a right to be safe on the internet. 

If you are worried about anything that has happened on the internet you can tell: 

• Someone you can trust (like your teacher or a relative) 
• Childline: 0800 1111 
• CEOP: Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre 
• Think U Know: Part of National Crime Agency/CEOP

Top tips for staying safe online  

1. Be careful what you share. If it’s something you don't want your teachers or parents to see, it's probably best not to post it because once it's online, it's out of your control. 
2. Never meet people you don't know, even if you get on with them online, it’s impossible to know who they really are. 
3. Use a complex password. It should be hard for other people to guess your password and it's a good idea to change it regularly.