We are ethical, open and honest. We are research-driven and base our actions on evidence. We follow through on our words and act with professionalism, show respect and consideration to all and do what is right.
Advice for parents, carers, professionals, and survivors, providing guidance on understanding key issues, responding to challenges, keeping children safe, maintaining wellbeing and where to find additional support.
We offer comprehensive support through specialised training, assessments, interventions, and case consultancy. We provide bespoke assessments, specialist interventions and consultancy in relation to child sexual abuse and harmful sexual behaviour.
Through research, we develop effective strategies, inform public policy and provide the best support and interventions for individuals and families.
Through our advocacy work, we press for the system changes that are needed to enable a greater focus to be placed on the prevention of child sexual abuse.
As a charity, we rely on the kindness and generosity of people like you to support our vital work to prevent child sexual abuse.
By donating, fundraising, or simply spreading the word about our work, your support will have a huge impact.
According to data released today by The Internet Watch Foundation, 105,047 URLs containing child sexual abuse imagery (CSAI) or videos were identified and blocked over the last year, an increase of more than a third on the year before.
The IWF have said that much of the increase was due to an improvement in the technology it uses to detect and assess criminal content.
Promisingly, they have also found that the proportion of images hosted in the UK is at its lowest level ever recorded- just 41 URLs, or 0.04% of the content it found and blocked was hosted from a UK address. This figure is significantly lower than 18%, when the IWF began operating in 1996.
However, this does not mean that the problem has reduced globally. Every five minutes, IWF analysts find the image or video of a child being sexually abused, and 4 out of 5 times this is hosted in a European country. Indeed, almost half (47%) of all the imagery found last year was discovered in the Netherlands.
The IWF tackles online child sexual abuse imagery as a global problem, which demands a global solution. To get rid of online images of child sexual abuse as quickly as possible, they work closely with partners worldwide in order to prevent child abuse across geographical borders. IWF has offered support to the Dutch organisation dealing with child sexual abuse imagery.
Susie Hargreaves OBE, IWF CEO, said:
“Despite us removing more and more images than ever before, and despite creating and using some of the world’s leading technology, it’s clear that this problem is far from being solved.”
“The cause of the problem is the demand. Unfortunately, and as the police tell us often, there are 100,000 people sitting in the UK right now demanding images of the abuse of children. With this continued demand for images of child rape, it’s a constant battle.”
In response to the release of the Internet Watch Foundation’s latest figures, Tom Squire, clinical manager of The Lucy Faithfull Foundation’s Stop It Now! helpline, said:
“Today’s figures make for difficult reading, but show the success the IWF is having in tackling the growing problem of online images of child sexual abuse. The IWF is a vital piece of the jigsaw of organisations and the public working together to effectively combat this global issue. But we all need to do more and find better ways of cutting both supply and demand to bring about a joined-up public health approach to prevention.
“Prevention is always better than cure, and so we have to do all we can to stop these illegal images from ever being made, to delete them wherever they exist, and to deter people from looking at them.
“The work of the IWF complements our Stop It Now! deterrence campaign, which aims to reduce the demand side of these illegal images and highlight the help available to stop looking at them. The public need to know that there are places they can turn in confidence if they see anything that worries them online, or if they’re concerned about their own behaviour.”
Anyone with concerns can call the Stop It Now! helpline on 0808 1000 900, which aims to prevent child abuse by encouraging abusers and potential abusers to seek help and by giving adults the information they need to protect children safely.
Our Stop It Now helpline, self help and programmes are there to help anyone concerned about child sexual abuse. Shore is for teenagers worried about sexual behaviour.
Our helpline 0808 1000 900
2 Birch House, Harris Business Park, Hanbury Road
Stoke Prior, Bromsgrove, B60 4DJ
Lucy Faithfull Foundation is a Registered Charity No. 1013025, and is a company limited by guarantee, Registered in England No. 2729957.
We are ethical, open and honest. We are research-driven and base our actions on evidence. We follow through on our words and act with professionalism, show respect and consideration to all and do what is right.
Advice for parents, carers, professionals, and survivors, providing guidance on understanding key issues, responding to challenges, keeping children safe, maintaining wellbeing and where to find additional support.
We offer comprehensive support through specialised training, assessments, interventions, and case consultancy. We provide bespoke assessments, specialist interventions and consultancy in relation to child sexual abuse and harmful sexual behaviour.
Through research, we develop effective strategies, inform public policy and provide the best support and interventions for individuals and families.
Through our advocacy work, we press for the system changes that are needed to enable a greater focus to be placed on the prevention of child sexual abuse.
As a charity, we rely on the kindness and generosity of people like you to support our vital work to prevent child sexual abuse.
By donating, fundraising, or simply spreading the word about our work, your support will have a huge impact.
As you may have noticed, our website looks a little different now. We’ve restructured and redesigned the site to be more accessible to you, so we’d love to know what you think. All feedback will remain anonymous; we do not collect any personal identifying information.
As you may have noticed, our website looks a little different now. We’ve restructured and redesigned the site to be more accessible to you, so we’d love to know what you think. All feedback will remain anonymous; we do not collect any personal identifying information.