KEEP ME SAFE IN EUROPE is a e-learning tool is focused on recognition, telling and help with neglect and abuse experienced by young people crisscrossing Europe. It came out of a pilot game hosted by Walsall Council (UK) and developed in collaboration with EUC and SEERC, in combination with an English-based study on young people’s experiences of the child protection system funded by the Office of Children Commissioner in England.

The idea for the e-learning tool came out of research findings and practice learning which had involved young people as co-investigators and inventors.

As a result, the co-production of this innovative e-learning tool responds to an identified need and will help keep young people safe by providing a fun, culturally-specific and multi-lingual platform to understand and locate sources of help.

This project focuses on the development and implementation of a game infused e-learning tool to promote health and early access to services for neglect and abuse for young people on the move in Europe. The e-learning tool will be co-produced by twenty-four young people with knowledge or experience of neglect and abuse, to help keep young people safe as they cross Europe.

The e-learning tool developed by the project is intended to afford young people from across Europe the opportunity to learn more about the different child protection systems in existence across the EU to help find early routes for help, if they are experiencing a problem of neglect and, or abuse.  Professionals will also benefit from the e-learning tool as a guide to young people’s emotional journey of recognition, telling and help seeking. The project builds on learning by partner organizations who have in previous work examined child protection systems from an EU context and youth perspective.  Anglia Ruskin and East Anglia University examined young people’s emotional journey of recognition, telling and seeking help with abuse and neglect, which was funded by the Office of Children’s Commissioner, in England. The framework developed from the study is used here to help structure the game. The second project completed by Walsall Council, European University Cyprus and City academy called ‘Keep Me Safe’ centered on the development of a prototype game and was funded by the Daphne-YOU RESPOND (Horwarth et al, 2010).

The ‘Keep Me Safe in Europe’ project builds on these two separate, but complementary, projects with a focus on how to use a youth-centric technology to primarily keep young people safe as they move across Europe and up skill professional groups. Young people will be trained and supported to co-design and develop the e-learning tool which will raises the profile of vulnerable young people as European citizens capable of knowing, understanding and responding to their own risks. The project framework enables groups of vulnerable young people to provide insights about their own issues and problems through a supportive mechanism that seeks to achieve voice, impact and improvement within social policy and social work environments. The objectives have been designed in response to the current inconsistency of youth-led resources available to support the safeguarding of children and young people throughout the EU and online. Key to the success of this new project is the role of 3 groups of young people from different EU countries who will lead:

• Participative applied research with children and young people in the context of EU citizenship.
• The design, format and content of new and innovative safeguarding resources relevant in relation to critical factors of age, culture and access.
• The dissemination, promotion and application of these new resources among children, young people and professionals throughout the EU.

For further information contact Dr Darren Sharpe d.sharpe@uel.ac.uk  or Prof Tim Waller tim.waller@anglia.ac.uk