The Kids Taskforce Community Interest Company aims to set a national standard of safety education and to ensure that every child in Britain receives that information.

We believe that children have the right to know how they can keep themselves safe and who in the community can help them.

In May 2007 the Presidents of the Association of Chief Police Officers, the Chief Fire Officers’ Association and the Chief Executive of the Professional Footballers’ Association signed an agreement endorsing the Kids Taskforce safety education programmes and pledging to bring them to every child. 

The launch of the Mayor's Fund for London, a project that aims to improve the lives of some of the capital's most disadvantaged families.  The Kids Taskforce learning programmes are to be used in schools in the pilot area to help children lead safer lives.

Missdorothy.com used in primary schools and Watch Over Me for teenagers  teach young people how to manage risk and develop their own strategies for staying safe. They are endorsed by the Department for Children, Schools and Families. This endorsement is based on evidence gathered in the London borough of Harrow and in South Yorkshire, where in the last four years more than  200,000 primary school children have been using the programme funded by the police and fire service.

The government has now funded a national roll-out of the Watch Over Me personal safety soap opera for teenagers in all schools for the next three years including those at pupil referral units, young offenders and youth workers. In London, Mayor Boris Johnson and the Metropolitan Police have made the scheme available in every London borough for more than 100,000 of the capital’s children. Nationally, Merseyside, North Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, Cheshire and Derbyshire have also become flagship areas for the programmes.

The challenge now for the Kids Taskforce is to reach every primary school child with  missdorothy.com and to eventually see both learning programmes established as part of the National Curriculum.  Champions in the police, fire service and football world are striving to help us achieve this aim, including England and Sputs striker Jermain Defoe who has become the Kids Taskforce sporting ambassador.
 
Police officers and firefighters have great expertise in the field of safety and their priority is to keep children safe. The PFA has demonstrated that the most vulnerable children can be reached through sport.  Together the police, fire service and football community are committed to make young people’s lives safer and teach them how develop their own strategies for handling risk.

The Kids Taskforce has become a Community Interest Company (CIC) because it has the interest of its community – children – at its very heart.  CICs are carefully regulated social enterprises and a concept recently created by the Cabinet Office. The company has a board of senior representatives from the police, fire service and football world who receive no dividends. Its activities and spending are closely monitored by a dedicated CIC regulator who ensures that children receive the maximum benefit from any investment.

An evaluation of the missdorothy.com and Watch Over Me programmes was carried out in 2009 by leading Scottish academics Suzanne Zeedyk and Cliff Davies, who visited many schools currently using the schemes. Their findings concluded that the programmes foster self awareness and empathy amongst young people, which have been shown to reduce violent behaviour. A full summary of their findings can be found in the reports here >>