An urgent COBRA style inquiry is needed into the scale of child sexual exploitation

Every day countless children are subjected to child sexual exploitation. Their lives are being ruined before they have begun because others are exploiting their vulnerability and the agencies who are supposed to keep them safe are failing to protect them.

We don’t know how many children are being abused. We don’t know in how many areas of country the abuse is happening. But we do know the impact on the lives of the victims and their families is devastating.

Professor Alexis Jay’s Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Exploitation in Rotherham 1997-2013 says the true scale of abuse in Rotherham alone is unknown. We shouldn’t fool ourselves that Rotherham and other areas where cases have emerged to date are the only areas where is it happening. The victims we know about have found the courage to speak out about what has happened to them. But much abuse is unreported and the full scale of this systemic failure to protect some of the most vulnerable children may never be known.

Child sexual exploitation is a form of sexual abuse. It often begins with the victim being groomed - manipulated by someone who allows them to believe they are friends and leads to children being coerced into sexual activities in return for money, gifts or affection.It often happens over a long period of time and can involve more than one perpetrator.

Behind the statistics are shattered lives. The number of Rotherham victims is estimated at 1,400. Every one of these is a child. Every one of these children was let down by the authorities which were supposed to be protecting them. Alexis Jay’s report found that even today there is little or no specialist support for the victims who suffered appalling abuse, despite their acute distress. In a number of cases children and young people had pregnancies, miscarriages and terminations. Some of the babies born were removed from their mothers under care orders, causing further trauma when contact was severed. Some young abuse victims have become addicted to alcohol or drugs or self harm in an effort to block out some of the pain. For others the metal scars were simply too much to live with and they were driven to the point of suicide.

Now that Fiona Woolf has been appointed as chair of the inquiry into allegations of historical child abuse, the investigationcan get underway. But the remit of the inquiry, spanning decades, is huge and no time limit has been set for it to report. It is also likely to be looking backwards on what has happened rather than focusing on the harrowing experiences which are still a reality for victims of child exploitation today.

4Children has written to the Prime Minister calling for him to establish a new high level, stand-alone inquiry into the extent of Child Sexual Exploitation in Rotherham and other areas and answer questions about how and why services which are supposed to be protecting children are continuing to fail them.This inquiry would be given a deadline to reflect the urgent action which is needed to help children still suffering and prevent more children from becoming victims.

Urgent change is needed and the task of protecting children is a challenge for everyone.

Children must be listened to and their warnings must never be ignored when this kind of abuse is reported. Perpetrators of child sexual exploitation rely on silence and people turning a blind eye towards things happening which don’t seem quite right. Parents and the public can play their part to help spot children who are at risk of abuse and raise the alarm.

There must be a far greater emphasis on identifying children at risk by social workers, the police and other frontline workers who . Professionals need to work far more closely together and share even the smallest pieces of information so a bigger picture of then true situation is built up at the earliest opportunity and a plan put into place to protect the child. Too much silo working means children continue to slip through the net.

Child abuse doesn’t fit neatly into local authority areas and geographic boundaries must not be allowed to pose a barrier to agencies working together to safeguard children. One of the most disturbing findings of that Alexis Jay’s report was that some children were moved away to places where they were at greater risk of child sexual exploitation than they were before.

Justice has been scarce and very few perpetrators have been convicted. Alexis Jay found that the small number of successful prosecutions has been disproportionate to the numbers of children abused and the seriousness of the offences committed against them.

Children need action now and we are calling for a COBRA-style inquiry chaired by the Prime Minister with all the key players in the room which will take all the steps required to make sure this never happens again in Rotherham or anywhere else. It is nothing less than our most vulnerable children deserve.

Child sexual exploitation is based on an imbalance of power between a perpetrator and their victim. Now the tables need to be turned in favour of the victims with the people who have the power to prevent it taking action to stop this horrific abuse.

Anne Longfield OBE
Chief Executive
4Children

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