See the Signs Safeguarding Consultancy

04/01/2026

🐎 2026 — The Year of the Horse

A Year of Change, Courage and Movement

The Year of the Horse symbolizes strength, momentum, and action. As we move into 2026, we all have a role to play in ensuring children are safer in the environments where they live, learn, and grow.

If you work with children, young people, families, or within organizational leadership, now is the time to ask:

Do we truly understand what child s*xual exploitation looks like within Aotearoa New Zealand?
Would our staff or community recognise grooming or early warning signs?
Do we know what to do, who to report to if concerns or disclosures arise?
Is safeguarding embedded into our culture, policies, and everyday practice?

Safeguarding is not optional. It is essential.

📚 Training Available — Online or In Person

See the Signs provides trauma-informed safeguarding education tailored for professionals and organisations working with children, young people, and vulnerable communities. Training can be delivered online or face-to-face.

🔹 Child Safeguarding – Basic

A foundational course covering:
Safeguarding vs Child Protection
Types of abuse and how to recognise them
Grooming and stages of grooming
Child S*xual Exploitation (CSE) and trafficking
Online harms, s*xtortion and CSAMTrauma-informed responses and reporting obligations

🔹 Cyber Abuse – How Bullies Can Reach Our Kids 24/7 – Advanced

Explores how children are targeted online, including:
Pressure to send n**es
Social media and mental health
Gaming, po*******hy and developing brains
Online grooming and predator tactics
Reporting pathways and organisational responsibilities

🔹 Child S*xual Exploitation & Trafficking within Aotearoa New Zealand – Advanced
A specialist course focusing on:

What CSE looks like in the New Zealand context
Grooming, vulnerabilities and risk factors
Barriers to disclosure
Trauma-informed responses and next steps

🔹 Harmful S*xual Behaviour – Tamariki Using Extreme P**n as S*x Education – Advanced
Addresses:

The impact of po*******hy and extreme content
Under-reporting of s*xual abuse
Links to family harm and victim impact
Appropriate agency responses

🔹 Family Harm / Intimate Partner Abuse
Covers:

Family harm laws and prevalence in Aotearoa
Recognising victim and offender behaviours
Safe, trauma-informed responses
Reporting and information sharing

Awareness saves lives.
Education empowers action.
Strong safeguarding cultures change futures.

Let 2026 be the year we move beyond assumptions and into informed, confident, and proactive safeguarding, for every child, every whānau, and every community across Aotearoa New Zealand.

*xualExploitation

30/12/2025

🚨 A Sad End to 2025 — Time to Act in 2026 🚨
As 2025 comes to a close, Aotearoa New Zealand has faced a deeply troubling year where multiple individuals in positions of trust have been convicted or sentenced for child s*xual abuse and exploitation, crimes that strike at the heart of community trust.
🔹 Former Deputy Commissioner of NZ Police, Jevon McSkimming was sentenced to home detention for possession of child s*xual exploitation material on both personal and work devices — a stark breach of trust from someone once leading our police force. Wikipedia
🔹 Former Kāpiti Coast GP, Jared Cook, pleaded guilty to indecent acts on boys aged 12–16, making intimate visual recordings and possessing objectionable material. He received 10 months’ home detention. New Zealand Police
🔹 Hawke’s Bay teacher, Matthew Ireland, was convicted on 12 charges of s*xual conduct with multiple students, some as young as nine years old while he was in a teaching role of responsibility. NZ Herald
These are not isolated statistics — they are real victims, real harm, and real betrayals of community trust.
________________________________________
🐎 2026: The Year of the Horse — A Year of Change, Courage & Movement
Let this year be one of commitment and action. If you work with children, families, communities or within organisational leadership:
✔️ Educate yourselves and your teams about what child s*xual exploitation looks like
✔️ Learn how to See the Signs
✔️ Know what to do next when you recognise risk or disclosure
✔️ Embed safeguarding into your culture, policies and everyday practice
📌 We cannot afford to be passive. Awareness saves lives. Action changes futures.
Let’s lead the change we want to see for every child, whānau and community in Aotearoa New Zealand.
*xualExploitation #2026

17/12/2025

Nine months’ home detention.
There are no adequate words for this—only anger.

The man entrusted with safeguarding our communities instead abused that trust. He exploited the very communities he claimed to protect, while children within them were being harmed.

Police found 280 images, photos, and/or videos of real children being s*xually abused—content he consumed for his own gratification. These were not abstract victims. These were real children. Someone’s children.

And for that, he receives nine months’ home detention.

Where were his morals?
Where was his duty of care?
Where was the safeguarding he publicly portrayed for years?

The reality is confronting: those children could have been from your community. People like McSkimming exist in every community.

That is why it is vital to understand what child s*xual exploitation looks like, to recognise the warning signs, and to speak up. Safeguarding children is not optional—it is everyone’s responsibility

The former high-ranking cop confessed he started looking for the material a decade ago.

17/11/2025

Last week, See the Signs presented on Child S*xual Exploitation and Trafficking within Aotearoa New Zealand to the Violence Free Tairāwhiti Network in Gisborne.

The session was well attended by representatives from local schools, Barnardos Aotearoa , Whānau Āwhina Plunket, Women's Refuge New Zealand, Matapuna Training Centre, and Turanga Social Services. Their engagement and the conversations that followed showed just how urgently this training is needed within our communities.

We have already received powerful feedback:

“Thank you for your training that you delivered in Gisborne. I sat there cringing as several incidents I’ve heard in the last two weeks would have fitted into the child exploitation category.”

“I learnt lots that shocked me — and I’ve been working as a social worker for nearly 18 years.”

“I learnt that CSE and Trafficking happens all the time.”

“My school badly needs to upskill its staff in this area, as we DO have incidents of child exploitation within our community more commonly than people believe.”

This is exactly why See the Signs exists.

If these agencies can see the value and importance of safeguarding training to prevent and protect against child abuse — then so should yours.

Book now for 2026, to equip your team with the knowledge and confidence that truly does save lives.

*xualExploitation

04/11/2025

Safeguarding Our Tamariki Starts with Education.

Last week, See the Signs had the privilege of presenting at the Upper Hutt Teacher Cluster Day 2025, focusing on Child S*xual Exploitation and Trafficking within Aotearoa New Zealand.

We had a great audience and some powerful discussions. Many teachers shared that they hadn’t realised how Child S*xual Exploitation and Trafficking can appear within their own communities and schools.

They wanted to know how we can help prevent this and the truth is, the only way we can prevent it is through education and open discussion.

We must educate our children on what Child S*xual Exploitation looks like, encourage conversations about healthy relationships, and ensure they know where to go for help and who they can trust if they ever find themselves in a s*xually exploitive situation.

But this conversation can’t stop here.

This needs to reach every school across Aotearoa New Zealand.

If you believe your school and teaching team would benefit, and I know they will, from a presentation on Child S*xual Exploitation and Trafficking, please get in touch to arrange a session for your next Teacher Only Day.

Together, let’s safeguard our children and create a future where every young person feels safe, supported, and seen.

15/10/2025

Government to adopt safeguarding recommendations after Malachi Subecz tragedy, is your organization ready?

The Government is adopting the majority of recommendations from an independent review into the actions of government agencies leading up to the tragic death of five-year-old Malachi Subecz in 2021, Minister for Children Kelvin Davis announced last week.

https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/government-address-child-abuse-system-failings

Alongside the broader Dame Karen Poutasi Review, these changes confirm one message:

“Safeguarding children in Aotearoa New Zealand is failing — not because we lack policies, but because we lack action, accountability, and the courage to confront the truth.”

The changes flagged last week, include stronger information sharing, a mandatory reporting regime and compulsory training for frontline staff.

Now they must become practice, not policy on paper.

Now is the time to make sure your staff, volunteers, and management understand what this means in practice.

Book free consultation - https://seethesigns.setmore.com/

See the Signs Safeguarding Training.

Tailored, practical, trauma-informed learning for every sector

See the Signs provides New Zealand specific training that helps professionals recognise early indicators of harm, understand grooming and exploitation, and respond safely and confidently.

Your team will learn to:

✅ Understand the difference between Safeguarding and Child Protection
✅ Recognise signs and stages of Grooming & Child S*xual Exploitation (CSE)
✅ Respond appropriately using a Trauma-Informed and Culturally Responsive approach
✅ Share information and report concerns safely and legally
✅ Align internal policies with Government requirements

Training options

Full-Day Workshop
Safeguarding Foundations + CSE & Online Harm
Investment: $1,500 + GST + expenses

Half-Day Advanced Class
Safeguarding Children or CSE & Trafficking Awareness
Investment: $750 + GST + expenses

Executive / Board Briefing
Governance duties & risk overview (60–90 mins)
Investment: POA

Custom Training
Bespoke session built around your organisation
Investment: Quote on request

Take action now

Ensure your organisation is aligned with New Zealand’s strengthened child-protection framework.

Spaces for 2025 regional training are booking fast. Book NOW for 2026!

Book your appointment with See the Signs Child Safeguarding Consultancy

09/10/2025

Aotearoa New Zealand, You Have Failed Another Child!

I am beyond angry, in fact, I’m fuming.

Once again, another child in Aotearoa New Zealand has fallen prey to a s*xual predator and once again, our justice system has failed to safeguard future victims.

To Judge Paul Murray and the wider judicial system,what part of these facts says she is not a Child S*xual Exploitation offender?

Let’s look at the facts:
She was a teacher, a trusted professional, in a position of power.
He was an 11-year-old child, her student.
She sent him n**e photos, she initiated it.
She spoke to him as an adult lover, coercing him to “ask her out” so that the blame could fall on him.
She groomed him with gifts, attention, and activities.
She slept in his bed overnight.
And when caught, she blamed the child, claiming she “didn’t want to upset him” or “be found out.”

For this, she was sentenced to six months of home detention and Judge Murray declined to place her on the S*x Offender Register, claiming she was “low risk of reoffending.”
Low risk? No.

She is a s*x offender!
People do not simply wake up one day and decide to “date” their 11-year-old student.
This was deliberate grooming, manipulation, exploitation, and abuse of trust.

By refusing to register her on the s*x offender register, the court has removed a crucial safeguard.
Without that, she is free to interact with children again — to teach, volunteer, even babysit, with no formal oversight.
This is not justice.
This is a systemic failure to protect our tamariki.

At See The Signs we have approached hundreds of schools, Te Kura Kaiwhakawā | Institute of Judicial Studies (Te Kura) and NZ Police offering them Child Safeguarding and Child S*xual Exploitation training and not one of these have said yes.

They still refuse to acknowledge that Child S*xual Exploitation is happening in every community across Aotearoa New Zealand.
They refuse to engage.
They refuse to upskill.
They refuse to See the Signs.
And because of that refusal, they continue to fail our tamariki, allowing offenders to go undetected and future victims to remain unprotected.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/360847934/teacher-sent-n**es-herself-school-boy-said-they-would-make-good-couple

14/09/2025

Would you be able to See The Signs?

This real feedback from FVIARS shows the direct impact of our training.

After just one workshop, three cases of Child S*xual Exploitation (CSE) were identified and brought forward sparking important conversations and response planning.

Thats three lives that can be saved, three children that can be saved from abuse.

Knowledge creates confidence, confidence saves lives.

📩 Book a free consultation now to find out how we can support your team.
https://seethesigns.setmore.com/

07/09/2025

Get 10% off webinars for Child Safeguarding Week 🌿

Child Safeguarding Week Aotearoa New Zealand is an annual campaign to encourage individual, organisational, and community action to prevent child abuse and neglect.

It shines a light on how abuse occurs, what the warning signs are, and, most importantly, how it can be prevented.

At See the Signs, we are supporting this kaupapa by offering a 10% discount on all our online webinars throughout the week. Our goal is to make it easier for more people to access safeguarding knowledge—because every extra person who learns the signs could mean a child is kept safe.

Join us for these important webinars:

Preventing Child S*xual Exploitation & Trafficking in Aotearoa New Zealand
Safeguarding Children – The Basics
Family Harm – How to Recognise the Signs
Harmful S*xual Behaviour – Tamariki using extreme p**n as s*x education
Cyberbullying – How bullies can reach our kids 24/7

👉 Book your place https://www.eventbrite.co.nz/o/see-the-signs-child-safeguarding-education-68983970073 and your discount will be applied automatically.

Prefer something tailored for your organisation or community?

Book a personalised team training, agency workshop, or community presentation during Child Safeguarding Week NZ and 10% of the event cost will be donated to a children’s charity of your choice.

Together, we can create safer futures for all tamariki.

04/09/2025

Most child s*xual abuse doesn’t come from strangers.

It comes from people you know.

👉 In around 90% of cases, the perpetrator is someone close to the child, a family member, caregiver, coach, or friend, someone in a position of trust.

These are the signs we often miss.

Because we don’t expect them.

Would you be able to See the Signs?

At See the Signs, we help whānau, teachers and communities:

✅ Spot red flags in trusted environments

✅ Start protective conversations early

✅ Act before harm happens

Sometimes, it’s right in front of you.

Let’s not miss it, book a free consultation now.
https://seethesigns.setmore.com

*xualexploitation

01/09/2025

🌍❤️ Child Safeguarding Week NZ

📅 8–14 September 2025

Every child deserves to grow up safe, protected, and free from harm.

Join us during Child Safeguarding Week for our powerful online webinars and community events. Together, we’ll learn how to recognise the signs of abuse, respond in a trauma-informed way, and safeguard our tamariki.

✨ Special Offer:

✅ 10% off ticket price for online webinars

✅ Book a team training, workshop, or community presentation this week and we’ll donate 10% of the event cost to a children’s charity of your choice.

👉 Be part of the change. Book your spot today and help protect the future of our children.

🔗 https://www.eventbrite.co.nz/o/see-the-signs-child-safeguarding-consultant-68983970073