Office of the Children's Commissioner

General information

About us:

The Children's Commissioner for England promotes and protects children's rights in England. She does this by listening to what children and young people say about what matters to them, and by making sure adults in charge take their views and interests into account.

The Children’s Commissioner's Office investigates and runs inquiries where we believe children’s rights are being breached, and promotes the rights of children through our reports. We make recommendations to government and statutory bodies and push for change to improve children’s lives. We involve children and young people in all stages of our work.

For more information, visit our website http://www.childrenscommissioner.gov.uk/

About our page:

Our aim is to create a safe and friendly page where you can find information about our work, news and activity, and engage in discussions on key issues.

Whilst we actively invite you to share your opinions, we ask that you read our advice and rules on ‘Staying safe online’ below before you post to our page.

Staying safe online:

We check this Facebook page regularly and moderate activity during office hours (9am-5pm, Monday-Friday) only.

We do not respond to every post on our wall.

We reserve the right to delete any posts for any reason, and/or permanently block any individual.

This link takes you straight to help and advice reporting facilities at the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP): https://ceop.police.uk/safety-centre/

Has someone acted inappropriately towards you online, or asked you to do something that makes you feel uncomfortable? Report it by clicking on the Click CEOP app.

Please read our Facebook rules below and always remember to think before you post.

Our Facebook rules

For more information about staying safe online, we recommend you check out:
http://ceop.police.uk/
http://www.nspcc.org.uk/help-and-advice/for-parents/online-safety/online-safety_wdh99554.html
https://www.iwf.org.uk/
http://www.childnet.com/young-people
http://dotcomcf.org/children/

We cannot offer advice and assistance through our Facebook page.

Remember that anything you post on Facebook is not confidential, as Facebook is a public forum.

Do not disclose any sensitive or personal information.

If you are child or young person who lives away from home or who receives social care services and you want advice or assistance, you can contact our Help at Hand service: http://www.childrenscommissioner.gov.uk/info/advice

You can also call us directly on our free telephone: 0800 528 0731, or email us at help.team@childrenscommissioner.gsi.gov.uk. If your enquiry involves an urgent concern about a child protection issue, you should contact your local police or social services.

Adults can also call the NSPCC child protection helpline on 0808 800 5000.

Children can call Childline on 0800 1111.

When posting to our Facebook page, please ensure you:
• Do not disclose sensitive information, for example reporting of abuse or issues surrounding your care, including information about your care or court cases.
• Do not disclose personal information e.g. name, address, location, age or any information that could be used to identify you.
• Do not disclose anything that breaches local, national or international law. Please do not post anything that might be illegal or against the law. If you’re not sure you should ask a parent or guardian for advice.
• Do not link to or promote petitions. We cannot be seen to endorse or promote other organisations.
• Do not post anything on our wall that asks us to sign something or show our support for a charity.
• Do not advertise, including spam, commercial or charitable events.
• Do not post on our wall about topics that have nothing to do with the children, young people, or the Children’s Commissioner’s Office. Please do not post chain mail on our wall, or information about events that we have not agreed to go to/attend.
• Do not disclose information not known to the general public at the time of posting.
• Do not post about anything that is not yet common knowledge or might be a secret, for example if you think your school might be having an event but they haven’t told anyone yet.
• Do not disclose anything which may be in breach of any legal duty owed to a third party, including a contractual duty or duty of confidence. This means posting anything which might be illegal, or against the law. Most things you post should be fine, but if you’re not sure you should ask a parent or guardian for advice.
• Do not impersonate any person or misrepresent your identity or affiliation with any person (including implying that such content emanates from us, if this is not the case)
• Do not pretend to be someone else, for example pretending you are a celebrity or another adult or child. Although you should keep some things about yourself private such as your age or your location, this doesn’t mean you should lie about who you are.
• Do not promote illegal activities. Please do not talk about or encourage others to get involved in things that are against the law, such as drinking alcohol if you are underage or taking drugs.
• Do not use profane or obscene language. Please do not use swear words or other rude words that you think might upset other people. Please do not use violent or aggressive language.
• Do not divulge hate speech against ethnic/religious/sexual/age groups. Please do not say nasty things about people’s ethnicity (background), religion (who they worship), sexuality (who they are attracted to e.g. men, women or other) or age.
• Do not disclose unlawful, libellous or defamatory statements. Please do not say something harmful or nasty about another person, whether that is someone in your school, or your friend or family.
• Do not upload links to other websites or content that we may deem to be inappropriate, contain viruses or other harmful programmes
• Do not upload links to content that may upset or be unsuitable for other people, particularly children. This includes videos and/or photos.
• Do not post rude or offensive comments. Please do not say nasty things about people that might be seen as bullying or might upset someone.

If you fail to comply with these rules, some or all of the following steps will be taken:

1. Your post or comment will be removed. This decision remains with the Children’s Commissioner’s Office.
2. We will issue you with a warning via private message.
3. You will be permanently withdrawn from the Children’s Commissioner’s Office’s Facebook page.