Recently in sexual abuse/exploitation Category

A local authority has paid £10,000 in damages to an alleged teenage victim of sexual abuse who was reportedly dismissed as an 'attention seeker'. 

Although the alleged abuse took place before social workers became involved in the girl's life, and no charges were ever brought, the council upheld the complaint because it accepted subsequent action and assessments "could and should have been more thorough".

"In addition to upholding the complaint a discretionary payment was also made, this is unusual but was in acknowledgement of the complainant's difficult experience," said Jon Plant, head of localities and safeguarding for Hull council.

Plant said significant changes have been implemented since, including a centralised service for the investigation of all allegations and a more comprehensive assessment.

The payment is believed to be the largest the authority has ever made.

If you're worried a child or young person you're working with has been, or could be, sexually exploited, try our free interactive tool to help you identify key warning signs and action plans.

Picture credit: Images_of_Money on flickr

The government is not going to launch a national action plan on missing children and young runaways, it appears, much to the disappointment of campaigners.

Children's minister Tim Loughton broke the news at an all party parliamentary group on young runaways and missing children this week, despite recognising the "strong link between children who run away and sexual exploitation", and admitting that the government has some "very unreliable and patchy data" he does not trust.

(This reflects our investigation in November which revealed local authorities up and down the country are flouting their legal duties by ­failing to keep accurate records of children missing from care.)

Andy McCullough from the charity Railway Children said: "We urge this government to understand that affirmative action can only begin with their support being given to councils to keep more accurate records of children missing from home and care. This is vital intelligence."

Picture credit: Jack!

by Dr Lucy Rai, senior social work lecturer at the Open University

The final episode of the BBC series Protecting Our Children, I want my baby back, showed three families facing the possibility of separation from their children for very different reasons.

A race against time

In the first case, we saw mum Louise trying to overcome a drug addiction so she could resume care of her baby, Mercedes.

Underlying the work with Louise was the ticking clock of her baby's developmental needs, set against her own timetable of addiction recovery. The priority was to provide Mercedes with a permanent, stable parent figure before she reached an age where changes in carers could forever harm her ability to form secure attachments.

Sadly this left Louise with very little time to achieve some momentous tasks: beating her drug addiction, withdrawing from methadone and completing a residential detox programme. Like Tiffany, the mother in episode one, Louise demonstrated real love for her baby by recognising that she was unable to meet her baby's needs in the time available.

More harsh decisions?

In the second case, we followed a mother who was failing to protect her baby from a known paedophile who shared the care of the child.

Despite clear evidence of the risk to the baby, there was a total lack of cooperation from the mother. Although there was no medical evidence of sexual abuse, the child showed worrying behaviour - such as obvious distress when having his nappy changed and being overly familiar with strangers - which indicated sexual abuse.

We saw the baby being removed by a social worker, with support from the police. This may have seemed dreadfully harsh but it is very unusual, as the team manager explained. Sexual abuse is a difficult area to respond to, and with less clear evidence of immediate risk it is normal to proceed slowly.

Multi-agency support at a time of crisis

The third case followed a mother who needed support to provide a safe, sanitary home so she and her seven-year-old daughter could be reunited.

We saw the intensive resources that can be arranged to help a parent in crisis. We saw social services, housing and environmental health workers working collaboratively to empower the mother to regain control of her home and realise her parenting capabilities.

The level of risk was very different in this case, because the child was older and the mother had been a good parent but was struggling during a personal crisis.

Child development

All three cases showed that social workers need to have a sophisticated understanding of child development. Mercedes needed quick decisions to meet her need for a secure home before she was a year old. The daughter in the 'dirty house' had both physical and emotional needs for a safe and clean home. The risk to the baby boy was heightened by observations about his behaviour - concerning behaviour in such a young child suggested his attachments were not secure and there may have been multiple, inconsistent carers in his life.

Child development plays a significant part in the education of social workers, and this programme exemplified well why this continues to be so important.

• The Open University has put together a range of resources to accompany Protecting our Children: www.open.edu/openlearn/startyourday

The government is to provide £1.2m of funding to help girls involved with gangs who are raped or sexually exploited by male members, the Home Office announced today. More detail here.

If you're worried a child or young person you're working with has been, or could be, sexually exploited, try our free interactive tool to help you identify key warning signs and action plans.

You might also find this helpful: CC Inform guide to safeguarding children and young people from sexual exploitation: Identification; response and prevention

Good to see our exclusive report on the recent Essex abuse case settlement picked up widely, including coverage by the Guardian and the BBC.

Here's ComCare editor Ruth Smith discussing the case on BBC Essex's breakfast show on Friday. (She's at about 1:06:10 in I think.)

Morning all. Here's another quick round-up of today's news, views and interesting things, starting with good news for Essex council's children's services department which has been released from two years' of government supervision after making improvements.

The latest court statistics, published today by the Ministry of Justice, have revealed care proceedings took 55 weeks, on average, to complete between July and September 2011.

Mothers of disabled children have opened up about their experiences of family life, describing to the Daily Mail how they felt when they learnt their children would have different futures to the ones they had expected. Fiona Wilson, 41, recalls her father-in-law telling her to leave her newborn son, who has Down's Syndrome, in the hospital, warning "he'll ruin your life".

Although Wilson adores her son, who was later diagnosed with cerebral palsy and autism too, life has been far from easy. She describes the exhaustion of having to "fight for your child at every step", something parents of disabled children will undoubtedly relate to.

In more positive news for disabled children and their families, a number of charities, including Mencap and Scope, have backed Ambitious about Autism's Finished at School campaign - lobbying for a clear legal right to educational support for young disabled people aged up to 25.

Third Sector reports that a Wolverhamptom charity supporting young offenders is to close after an investigation found its activities were likely to mislead potential donors.

Another day, another Facebook scandal - this time involving a 24-year-old man who attacked a 13-year-old girl he groomed online after she logged onto the social networking site during a difficult time at school. (Changes in a child's online behaviour could indicate they are being exploited. For more details of this warning sign, and others, see our online tool.)

Picture credit: ZoeLouisePhotography

Children's charity Barnardo's has today launched a "landmark" new report into the sexual exploitation of children in Northern Ireland, based on research which found one in nine teenagers in the region had been sexually groomed by an adult.

The charity's report highlights the findings of the 2010 Young Life and Times (YLT) survey, an annual survey of 16-year-old care leavers and looked-after children living in Northern Ireland.

In total 786 young people responded to the survey, which this year included questions about sexual exploitation and grooming for the first time.

One in nine had been sexually exploited while one in 15 had been plied with drugs or alcohol before being abused. Almost two-thirds (62%) had not confided in any authority figure about the exploitation they had suffered.

Barnardo's research, entitled Not a World Away, highlights the particular risks posed to young people in care. Lynda Wilson, director of Barnardo's NI, urged agencies to "enact the recommendations contained within this report, without undue delay".

The government is currently working on a national response to child sexual exploitation - following high profile abuse cases and research suggesting the problem is far worse than anticipated - making tonight's C4 Dispatches particularly topical. 

Tazeen Ahmad's investigation into street grooming in Britain will see her meet victims and hear how girls as young as 12 have been targeted, terrorised and brainwashed by gangs of men.

According to Channel 4, in one shocking encounter Ahmad talks to two young men who explain in detail how grooming by gangs is perpetrated, why virgins are more highly prized and how the commerce of this type of brutal sexual exploitation unfolds.

Britain's Sex Gangs, Monday 7 November, 10:30pm, Channel 4.

The office of the children's commissioner has launched its two-year inquiry into child sexual exploitation, warning that the problem could be far worse than currently understood.

Councils, police, health, youth justice, the judiciary and education will be required to provide information to the investigation to establish, for the first time, the true picture across the UK.

Current data suggests that up to 10,000 children may have been sexually exploited by gangs, but the problem could be far worse, according to early research by the OCC, with "girls and boys being abused in potentially larger numbers and in every part of the country".

The inquiry will be led by deputy children's commissioner Sue Berelowitz, supported by a panel of experts including Sheila Taylor MBE, director of the National Working Group for Sexually Exploited Children and Young People and Martin Houghton-Brown, chief executive of Missing People. Its interim report will be published in July 2012.

Sue Berelowitz said: "The picture we are getting is of serious and violent sexual, physical and emotional abuse. Right now substantial numbers of children in all parts of England are being abused and exploited by multiple perpetrators.

"All agree that we simply don't yet have the full picture as the data is still inadequate. This is why, using our unique powers we will bring to light the hidden and unknown truth, producing an interim report in July 2012."

She added: "The emerging evidence is that the children and perpetrators involved are very diverse and seem to reflect the local demographic of where the abuse is taking place. It would be wrong for anyone to conclude or assert that this is an issue for one particularly ethnic community.

The inquiry follows a thematic assessment into child sexual exploitation, published in June by the Child Exploitation and Online Protection centre (CEOP), which found professionals were still missing key signs of grooming and sexual exploitation.

Do you work with a young person who could be at risk? Check out our interactive graphic for more information and support.