A Peterborough-based charity that helps children whose lives have been torn apart by serious crime has launched a new national contact centre to support traumatised children no matter where they live in the UK.
Embrace Child Victims Of Crime (Embrace CVOC) has opened the new contact centre at its head offices at Copse Court, Thorpe Wood, Peterborough, to support children through crippling trauma via a range of services.
Last year, Embrace CVOC helped and supported more than 3,000 children and their fam-ilies to cope with and recover from the terrible trauma they experienced because of seri-ous crime.
Anne Campbell, chief executive of Embrace CVOC, said: “The Covid-19 pandemic has been a challenging time for charities like ours but it has also enabled us to accelerate our plans to reach many more young people harmed by crime. We are doing this by moving our key services on-line and on the phone, enabling us to give support to child victims of crime no matter where they are in the UK.
“Over the past few months, we have trained more case workers to enable us to provide specialist support to even more children and their families from all over the UK, to help them rebuild their lives after the traumatic experiences they have faced.
“The ‘alchemy’ in what we do is creating support packages that meet individual circum-stances. We put each child at the heart of our response, tailoring what we offer them to meet their own unique needs.
“Serious crime can affect children in so many ways and our focus is on listening to them and working with them to provide the right support, at the time they need it, in the way that best helps them and their families.”
The news was welcomed by The Victims’ Commissioner.
Victims’ Commissioner for England and Wales, Dame Vera Baird, said: “The Covid-19 pandemic has been an incredibly challenging time for all victims of crime because the demand for services has increased dramatically.
“I welcome this expansion of services for child victims of crime to help them access the services they need, when they most need it, to rebuild their lives.
“It is incredibly important that children, young people and their families have avenues of specialist support available to them to help them overcome the trauma they have experi-enced and give them a more positive future.”
Embrace CVOC invites referrals from the police, teachers and others working in safe-guarding roles from all over the UK.
The charity offers specialist counselling, advice and guidance and offers practical support for low income families with food vouchers, tech (tablets and phones) to access Embrace CVOC, craft items and educational activities. Working with partners, Embrace CVOC also provides opportunities for families to spend quality time together and to make happier memories.
Embrace CVOC works with many organisations in the public and private sector to provide its support. Embrace CVOC is the only charity in the UK which works solely with children who have been harmed by serious crime. Since 1993 it has helped many thousands of children across the UK who have suffered violent, physical or sexual abuse or neglect, or who have lost a close family member to homicide. It operates in all part of the UK, the Channel Islands and Isle of Man.
Embrace is commissioned to provide its specialist services in Peterborough, Cambridge-shire, Bedfordshire, Cheshire, Staffordshire, Greater London, Greater Manchester and Wales.
To find out more about Embrace CVOC visit www.embracecvoc.org.uk. If you have any questions about Embrace CVOC you can email info@embracecvoc.org.uk or call 0345 60 999 60.
