There are 4 categories of harm that we talk about:

 

Physical abuse includes things like hitting, shaking, burning, poisoning, drowning or suffocating someone.

 

Emotional abuse includes things like bullying or frightening someone, making them do things they don’t want to do, making them feel bad about themselves, or making them watch someone else being hurt.

 

Sexual abuse includes things like having sexual contact with young people who are not old enough to give their consent to this, or who do not want it to happen, or showing children adult sex films or pictures.

 

Neglect is when young people are not cared for or protected properly, so that they are hungry or cold or ill or frightened or unhappy, or left by themselves when adults should be with them.

 

Lots of young people have experienced these kinds of harm, and one of the reasons Phoenix looks after young people is to help them to cope with these experiences.

 

If anyone hurts you in any of these ways, you must tell an adult that you trust. This can be your foster carer, social worker, teacher, advocate, a family support worker or anyone else you know. You will never get into trouble for telling us that you have been - or are being - hurt by someone, no matter who it is. It is not acceptable for young people to be hurt in these ways, and we will make sure that something is done about it.

 

If you tell your foster carer or a family support worker, or someone else at Phoenix, that you have been hurt in the past or that you are being hurt now, they will not be able to keep this a secret. They have a responsibility to tell people who will be able to protect you and keep you safe. They will be able to tell you what will happen next, and keep you informed about things.

 

We know that sharing things like this can be difficult and scary, and we know that you might worry about how people will see you or feel about you if you tell them. But everyone at Phoenix is taught about these situations, they will listen to you and take you seriously, and they will do all they can to keep you safe.