Rotherham MP Launches Report into How the Government is Failing Adult Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse

MP Sarah Champion is calling on the Government to increase funding to help stop victims from 'falling through the gaps'.

Rotherham MP Sarah Champion and The All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Adult Survivors of Childhood Sexual Abuse have launched a landmark report that uncovers the lifelong impact of child sexual abuse and exposes the failure of Government to provide survivors with information and support.

The six-month inquiry, gathered the views of nearly 400 survivors from across the country.

The APPG found whilst the impact of child sexual abuse lasts a lifetime, support for survivors often falls away when they reach adulthood.

The inquiry heard that, on average, male survivors wait 26 years before disclosing their abuse, meaning some survivors never receive adequate support.

Survivors told the inquiry how their relationships and family life is impeded by abuse, with families sometimes permanently divided as a result of closure (disclosure?). Many survivors felt they did not get any support to deal with this.

Only 16% said that mental health services met their needs and many told of wrong diagnoses and counterproductive treatment plans.

The report also found statutory services are not set up to recognise child sexual abuse survivors, with many speaking of how they were often given out of date or incorrect information by GPs and other professionals.

Survivors told the inquiry that counselling from a specialist is the single most important form of support to their recovery.

Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) hold NHS responsibility for commissioning specialist voluntary sector services but the Department for Health holds no records on what they are commissioning.

Rotherham MP Sarah Champion is the Chair of the APPG, she said:

“I have spoken to hundreds of survivors of childhood sexual abuse. It is striking that almost all of them describe the way they are treated by the state as a secondary form of abuse. Who are we as a nation if we do not support victims of horrendous crime?

"It is an outrage that despite all the talk of action so many child sex abuse survivors are left to fend for themselves. This is morally wrong and makes no sense economically.

"This report gives concrete, cost-effective solutions to Ministers. Victims and survivors of child abuse are fed up with warm words from Government, they now want change.

"Nearly 400 survivors have spoken. It’s time for the Government to show it’s listening and take action."

We have written to the Department for Health for a reply but have not had a response yet.

As miserable as this report is, the UK is far ahead of most countries, even western countries in the provision of counselling for child sex abuse victims. Many countries provide little or no counselling and, probably, no country provides the level of care for as long as the survivor needs it to mostly recover from their abuse.