Bright Horizons Foundation for Children opens new Bright Space with West Yorkshire Police in Dewsbury

The Bright Horizons Foundation for Children has opened a new Bright Space in partnership with West Yorkshire Police.

The Bright Space has been created in the Vulnerable Victim Suite in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire and provides a safe, comforting and supportive environment for vulnerable children and young people being supported by police officers.

The Foundation and its volunteers transformed the space in Dewsbury Police Station with soft furnishings, and an extensive range of high-quality equipment, resources, art and craft supplies, games, relaxation toys and books, to help children feel safe and comfortable, and relax.

This is the third Bright Space to open with West Yorkshire Police, with another planned for later in the year. This Bright Space has been made possible through £2,374 raised by Bright Horizons North Division nurseries and families, alongside a generous in-kind donation of equipment from Cosy.

Gillian from Bright Horizons Leeds Day Nursery and Andrew from Bright Horizons Moortown Day Nursery have been instrumental in setting up this new project with West Yorkshire Police and will help to sustain the Bright Space moving forward.

Tracy Wilkes-Green, the Foundation's Bright Space Manager, said: "We are so happy to have opened this new Bright Space for West Yorkshire Police. We hope it will positively impact the vital work across West Yorkshire to keep vulnerable children safe and supported”.

Chief Superintendent Jim Griffiths, District Commander of Kirklees Police, said: “Children can be brought into police stations in some of the most traumatic circumstances imaginable, and it is incredibly important for their wellbeing that we can provide safe, reassuring places for them to be in while they are with us.

The new children’s facility in our victim’s suite in Dewsbury has been specially designed to meet the needs of young people, and we believe its facilities will aid officers and partners in supporting children while they are in our care.”

For more information about the Bright Horizons Foundation for Children and the work that it does, please visit https://brightspaces.org.uk/.