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  1. Who We Are
  2. MCF

MCF

The Marie Collins Foundation works in a range of ways to ensure that at every level the needs of victims and survivors are at the forefront of all decision making. We achieve this by supporting children, young people and their families affected by technology-assisted child sexual abuse by working with them directly and indirectly.

Our creation and facilitation of specialist training to both national and international professionals promotes a victim focussed, recovery approach. Through our work with a number of academic institutions we have supported the development of current academic literature on technology-assisted child sexual abuse. 

The Marie Collins Foundation also influences policy and decision-makers at local, national, and international levels and supports victims and survivors to have a voice through our active victim and survivor network. Our global engagement with governments has helped initiate sustainable development of national infrastructures to improve child protection services and highlighted appropriate responses to the victim-survivors recovery needs.

The following projects highlight the legacy of MCF to address the harm caused to children and families sexually harmed through technology.

Where it all began

Our journey begins with Marie herself.  In 1960, Marie was in hospital in Dublin, Ireland, for a routine operation on her arm.  She was afraid and lonely. She had not been away from her family before, so when they hospital chaplain started stopping by her room to see if she was ok, she was delighted.  Her family were delighted too.  This chaplain seemed to be liked by everyone.  

He read to her.  He played games with her.  He made her forget the operation and alleviated the boredom.  Then one day his games changed.  He started touching her and making her touch him.  He took photos of her abuse.  He made sure that Marie would not tell.  He told her there was something wrong with her if she thought what he was doing was wrong.  She felt she was the one to blame and stayed silent.  Marie was only 13 years old.

When, thirty years later Marie eventually reported her abuse, her primary concern was where the photos were and who had seen them.  She says that the moment of her greatest humiliation was there for all to see.  It had a huge impact on her life.

 Abusers will stop at nothing and use everything and anything at their disposal to target, groom and exploit children online for their sexual purposes.  We saw this with Marie, and we are seeing it every day in the work we do at MCF.

Read our 5 year plan
What is MCF
Dedicated Team of Specialists

Who we are

The Marie Collins Foundation (MCF), founded in 2011 by Tink Palmer MBE, is a charity based in the UK that is leading the way both nationally and internationally when it comes to responding when a child has been the victim of technology-assisted Child Sexual Abuse (TACSA).  We are dedicated to supporting victims of TACSA on their recovery journey, to go on to live safe and fulfilling lives. We provide a voice for the victim and survivor, and support professionals who work with young people through training, mentoring, and promoting the sharing of best practice. We advocate for victims and survivors by lobbying and sharing our expertise with government and policy makers to improve safeguarding responses for victims and their families.

Child sexual abuse manifests itself in many forms and shows no respect for international boundaries. The internet offers many exciting opportunities for childhood development, however, all too often it is used by others to facilitate the sexual abuse of children and young people. The trauma effects from such abuse on victims and survivors is complex due to the online nature of offending. Victims often face re-traumatisation due to the permanence of their images online and the unknown extent of their distribution to others. This can have profound effects on them and their recovery particularly where there is ineffective support from the outset.

Through experience of working with children we know that when abuse or exploitation has involved technology and/or online activity, the impacts on the victims and families are different and requires a specific response tailored to meet their protection needs. We also know that if you place the needs of the victim and their family at the centre of any investigation or professional intervention you are likely to better safeguard the child and to achieve a proportionate and appropriate response within the criminal justice system.  MCF give professionals the tools to carefully plan how to approach each individual case from the point of discovery of the abuse along the path to eventual recovery. It is about how to carry out interventions in a way that is supportive of the needs of the children and their families.

MCF work tirelessly with survivors promoting their voice to influence change at local, national and international level. As a first NGO member of the WeProtect Global Alliance (WPGA) we influence law makers and governments and are at the forefront of survivor work in the UK with increasing global reach. We can justifiably take credit for influencing the current growing interest by other organisations to move into survivor centred activity and capacity building.

MCF Expertise
Who we are

MCF works in partnership with police, health, children’s services, NGOs, education personnel, industry members, government departments and those working in the legal profession and judiciary. Our work is based on sound evidence of need, thus we both commission and participate in academic research.

We have grown to become a dedicated team of specialists with strengths across a breadth of safeguarding disciplines, who advise on capability building across multisectoral partners and governments at local, national and international level.  What makes us unique is that we have real expertise both within the team and through our network of associate consultants, and even the CEO does direct work supporting victims and their families.  We have recent and relevant experience of working in the field of child protection from social work, youth work, law.  

The result: we see victims changing from frightened, insecure, and shamed children to ones with confidence who will not be defined by the abuse they suffered and are able to go forward in their lives with an optimistic future before them.

“I admire your [MCF’s] determination to ensure that voices that won’t otherwise be heard, those of vulnerable victims, who are inevitably young, I admire that you are the driving force to ensure that happens.” – Dame Vera Baird, Victim’s Commissioner for England and Wales. Dame Vera Baird KC served as Victims’ Commissioner from 23 June 2019 to 30 September 2022.

Who we are

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