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

What People Say About AFRUCA

  • “I aIways knew I was good at a lot of things but because I never had anyone to direct me and keep pushing me, I just easily give up. With you on my case regularly, I feel like I can do a lot more, I really appreciate you”

    Young person who received one-to-one support and mentoring from our REVIVE project

  • “Engaging with the AFRUCA Therapy Service was a very positive experience. We both really appreciate how the therapist approached things from a positive perspective. After going through court and completing the AFRUCA parenting work, it came at the right time. The sessions provided me with the space to reflect on everything that had happened and how to move forward.”

    Parents who received therapeutic support from AFRUCA's Healing and Reconciliation Service

  • "By engaging with AFRUCA’s resources and support services, I have gained valuable knowledge and skills to enhance my parenting practices, support my children’s emotional well-being, and create a safe and nurturing environment for my family. I remember, I am not alone in this journey, and seeking support and guidance is a positive step towards being the best parent I can be."

    Parent referred by a Local Authority to AFRUCA for positive parenting intervention due to concerns around use of physical chastisement

  • "I joined AFRUCA in 2015 and became a champion after a fantastic training. AFRUCA has really informed my knowledge in the area of safeguarding especially in the African community. Being a volunteer has given me the opportunity to reach out to many people who would have become victims due to lack of knowledge. I feel good by giving my time, energy and skills to the community for a good cause of breaking barriers. It is said that prevention is better than cure. AFRUCA has done and is still doing a lot of preventive work to ensure children are brought up in a safe and caring home by their own parents. I am proud to be part of the good cause."

    Dupe Olaniyi, AFRUCA Volunteer Children’s Champion

  • “AFRUCA came into the life of our church at a time when it was growing with newly arrived immigrants. What they taught us has formed the building blocks of our family life teachings. Their service has now become an annual event because new people flow through churches. In our view, all churches must have access to annual safeguarding training like that provided by AFRUCA.”

    Pastor Femi Titilayo

    Christ Apostolic Church, Middlesborough

  • "The support I received from AFRUCA had a great impact in my life. I thank God I'm here today because it was a life changing experience."

    Person With Lived Experience of Modern Slavery, AFRUCA Child Trafficking Support Programme

  • "My experience with AFRUCA was wonderful! It couldn’t have been any better. The social worker exercised a high level of empathetic display therefore, giving room to a proper in-depth understanding and assimilation of the parenting lessons. Well-done her!’’

    Parent who took part in our Child Protection and Family Support Service

  • "Your County Lines programme is very much needed for the young people. Crazy to think County Lines and Serious Youth violence is so big in today’s society."

    Parent participating in AFRUCA Coffee Morning Sessions, Manchester

  • "This training should be taught to you as soon as you come into the UK. I wish that I had known all of this long before I needed it"

    Parent who undertook AFRUCA’s Child Protection Parenting Programme

  • “I have read through the assessment, and it was comprehensively written, as you considered the cultural interpretation of some of the concerns. I was impressed with the work done with the family and the outcome was positive, as a result, the children are no longer on the Child Protection Plan. I was also pleased how you made yourself available at meetings and contributed to assessing the progress of Child Protection and monitoring the risk to the children”.

    Social Worker, Kingston/Achieving for Children who commissioned AFRUCA Child Protection and Family Support Service

  • "AFRUCA saved my life. I don't know what I would have done without them. They helped me get my family back to which I am eternally grateful"

    Parent who undertook AFRUCA’s Child Protection Parenting Programme

  • "I think everybody should learn what I have been taught today in the Champions training. It's good to hear from people who look like me and understand"

    Participant who took part in AFRUCA’s Child Protection Community Education Programme

  • “The knowledge and delivery of this training gave me better skills in parenting my children and the children around me.”

    Parent who participated in AFRUCA’s Child Protection Community Education Programme

  • “I would like to say I enjoyed the lessons throughout these ten weeks. The first one I didn’t know what to expect, and ever since I’ve had these lesson every single Saturday, it has honestly change my life. I’ve learnt a lot of codes that I wouldn’t even know if I continued with my normal route. To be honest I am just really happy that I’m even in these coding sessions

    Young participant on the AFRUCA Coding Programme to Prevent County Lines Trafficking

  • "Working for AFRUCA has been an incredible experience. Everyone in the office is extremely passionate about their work, kind to everyone, and extremely supportive. While working for AFRUCA, I was able to learn how non-profits operate and the reality of how prevalent modern day slavery and human trafficking is in the UK. I’ve gotten to work on projects with everyone on the team where I’ve been able to advance my graphic design, technology, and research skills. I’ve loved working here and am so grateful to have interned with the London team."

    Danielle Worthalter, Intern from the USA

  • "I think we definitely got people thinking and talking more about modern day slavery. I think it was also important for people to know the difference between cultural sensitivity and ignorance e.g. knowing that just because people come from a very different cultural background, it does not always defend their behaviour, and they could in fact be practicing modern day slavery. I like to think we helped people be more confident in speaking out when they see something suspicious or harmful in their local environment"

    AFRUCA Volunteer Anti-Slavery Champion, Manchester

  • "AFRUCA awakened my consciousness to issues of Safeguarding Children, provided me with the language, resources, and network of equally trained and passionate champions. AFRUCA does not just train. Its advocacy, investment in strategic research, grassroots and community reach, development of people, ongoing support and provision of relevant resources for champions, children, professionals, and policy-makers, positions it in the Ivy-League of Change Agents in safeguarding children. I am grateful for the opportunity to serve as AFRUCA's Children's Champion over the last 15 years."

    Pastor Dupe Adefala, World Fountain Christian Ministries, Oxford.

    AFRUCA Volunteer Children’s Champion.

  • "Each day brought a new opportunity to learn and grow. AFRUCA's unique approach to internships, treating me as a valued member of the team rather than a temporary addition, allowed me to feel genuinely integrated into the organization's efforts."

    Christy Li, Operations Intern from the USA, AFRUCA London Office

Vacancies

Independent Children and Family Psychotherapists (London or Manchester)

Are you a Qualified, BACP/UKCP registered or accredited psychotherapist with an interest in the cultural aspects of therapeutic practice?

Do you have at least two years post qualification experience?

Do you practice an integrative person centred approach (parents and children) and/or play or arts therapy (children) to work with clients?

Would you like a role that enables you to support Black and Ethnic families to create a positive and safer environment for children?

Do you have the empathy, compassion and dedication to go over and beyond for children and their families in need?

Are you keen to broaden your understanding of the links between culture and safeguarding to improve your practice?

If this is you, then click here to find out more and apply!

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.

We are concerned about the high number of African and Caribbean children being removed from their families due to allegations of physical chastisement. We are holding this training programme so we can work with local faith groups to build their capacity to support their congregants to address this problem and save more of our children from going into foster care.

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 UK 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 children can be at risk of harm in the faith setting and what to do about it.

We will hold three different sessions of full day training (10am to 4pm) for up to 30 participants each.

We are inviting faith group to nominate 2 candidates to attend the second training session on Saturday 18 January 2025 at Homerton Library. Free African and Caribbean lunch and refreshments will be provided.

If your faith group is based in Hackney and you are interested in participating in the free training, please contact us here

World Children’s Day 2024 Event: AFRUCA Family Healing and Reconciliation Service

In celebration of World Day for Children on November 20 2024, we are hosting an online event to highlight the challenges experienced by children returning home from foster care and the work of our Healing and Reconciliation Service to address this through provision of culturally tailored healing and psychotherapy services for children and their families. 

Join us at this important event and learn more about how we are building partnerships with agencies to support children and their families transitioning from foster care across EnglandRegister here

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

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.

Click to read more and download our training brochure

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 #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: November 2024 Activities

We had such a wonderful session on Saturday 16 November at our first training programme on Child Safeguarding and Protection for Black faith leaders and workers in Hackney.

We were delighted to have Shiloh Pentecostal Church, Redeemed Church Place of Victory, Christ Royal Church, Christ Miracle Church Mission, Christ Temple Ministries, Seventh Day Adventist, Christian Assembly send their representatives to attend this important event.

This was a very interesting and interactive conversation with participants exploring how to keep children safe, especially in relation to physical chastisement - the main reason Black children are removed from their families. We discussed the different ways children can be at risk of harm in and away from the faith setting and how faith organisations can put in place provisions to enhance the safety of children. Participants completed the training with better knowledge and understanding of how to support/educate families attending their faith groups so they can better protect their children.

Many thanks to City and Hackney Child Safeguarding Partnership for funding this important programme. We are holding two further sessions on 18 January and 15 February 2025 for other faith organisations in the borough. Email: ekanem@Afruca.org to register

Join AFRUCA Talks: Our Free Online Forum For Parents

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.

Read more

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