Authorities Still Not Identifying Kids At Risk Of Sexual Exploitation

There are still children at risk of becoming victims of sexual exploitation who've not been identified by authorities.

That's the warning from the Children's Commissioner for England today.

In a new report, the Office of the Children's Commissioner (OCC) spoke to local children safeguarding boards and found that almost half (48%) had failed to identify any victims at all.

It's led to further calls for more to be done to help tackle child abuse.

Frank Duffield is from Humberside Crimestoppers which works with young victims in Yorkshire and Northern Lincolnshire. He told Viking FM:

"This is a personal, private thing that local authorities along with the police have a responsibility to manage and they are doing. It is extremely difficult but friends and networks, they all seem to know what's going on with each other and maybe one of them could pick up the phone. It does happen, I've seen that happen but we need that to happen more.

"East Riding Council is one organisation that has had a report and a study carried out in order to identify what they're doing and whether it is sufficient and they've got a good rating on that, others I'm no doubt will do the same work. We don't want to be where Rotherham is and that's a really difficult part now.

"Victims need the confidence that they're not going to be exposing themselves to more risk with the people that are perpetrators. There's been a lot of work between the different agencies and ourselves in trying to develop different ways of sharing information. What we want to do is make people aware of how they can interact with that and make safer some of the people who are being abused."

Sue Berelowitz, deputy children's commissioner for England and chair of the inquiry, said:

"When we began our inquiry into child sexual exploitation in gangs and groups in 2012, there were a few lone voices around the country desperately trying to help the child victims.

"Thankfully, much has improved and many of the agencies which are responsible for protecting child victims have woken up to this damaging crime. However, it is clear that at the frontline much work is still needed."

She added:

"Once again we are calling for age-appropriate relationships and sex education to be made a statutory component of the curriculum. Young people need to understand what are and what are not healthy relationships."

But the report shows that 92% of local safeguarding children boards have produced a strategy to address child sexual exploitation and 79% of police forces have done a strategic analysis or problem profile of child sexual exploitation victims and offenders. However, it found in many cases that progress at a strategic level had not yet filtered down to front-line practice.