The South African Police Service Provides Tips For keeping Children Safe

The South African Police Service (SAPS) has called on the community to work together to keep children safe and for parents to be more vigilant when it comes to their children’s whereabouts and activities.

The call comes during National Child Protection Week (31 May to 7 June), an annual government initiative to raise awareness of the rights of children.

‘As SAPS, we are committed to ensuring the safety of our children. It is important that parents, family members, teachers and community leaders are familiar with the role that they play in exposing any suspected child abuse or exploitation. It’s crucial for all these role players to also educate children on their safety.’

‘It takes a village to raise a child – it is the whole community’s responsibility to take ownership of ensuring the safety of our children,’ National Head of the Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences (FCS) unit in the SAPS, Major-General Yvonne Botsheleng, said.

Tips for keeping your children safe

Major-General Botsheleng gave the following advice to parents on how to safeguard their children:

Many incidents occur while children are outside playing and parents are inside, so always be aware of your children’s whereabouts and ensure they have adequate parental supervision at all times
Keep a close eye on your child’s cell phone and Internet usage and who they’re communicating with
Do a background check on any child minders that you employ and ensure that any day care facilities you send your children to are registered
If you can’t fetch your children from school, make sure the teachers are aware of who will be collecting them
If abuse is happening within the family unit, don’t ignore it or try and manage it internally, reach out for professional help from the SAPS or the various child protection institutions listed below
Children are also advised to be honest to the parent so that they can be able to help them or pick it up easily in case of any form of abuse
Parents to know and understand their children, talk openly to them about abuse and their protection
Break the silence surrounding child abuse

‘If you suspect any abuse is happening, don’t keep quiet, report it to your nearest police station or the various call centres that have been set up,’ says Major-General Botsheleng.

Source: South African Police Service