Daisy Coleman's Heartbreaking Death
Disgusting Child Sex Dolls on Amazon
Rapid Rise in Child Sexual Abuse Across UK
Social Work Failing Children in Southampton & Manchester
Daisy Coleman's death was a tragedy more common
among sexual assault survivors than you might think
Alia E. Dastagir
USA TODAY
It was a goodbye. And a warning.
"She never recovered from what those boys did to her," Daisy Coleman's mother wrote on Facebook.
Coleman, an activist against sexual violence who at 14 said she was raped at a party in Maryville, Missouri, and later became the subject of the 2016 Netflix documentary "Audrie & Daisy," died by suicide on Tuesday at age 23.
Coleman's mother, Melinda Coleman, revealed her daughter's death on Facebook, writing "I wish I could have taken the pain from her."
Coleman's death underscores how sexual assault is not a one-time event, but a trauma that ripples, sometimes with impacts that last a lifetime. Trauma increases suicide risk, and people who've experienced sexual assault are 10 times more likely to attempt suicide than those who haven’t, according to a study by the National Victim Center and Medical University of South Carolina. For women, the odds of attempting suicide is 3 to 4 times greater when the first reported sexual assault occurs prior to age 16.
Activist and documentary film subject Daisy Coleman, 23, has died.
Eight years ago, felony charges were filed against Matthew Barnett, then 17, the grandson of Rex Barnett, a former Republican state representative. Coleman said after raping her, he left her on her porch in a T-shirt and sweats in freezing temperatures. Her mother found her.
Barnett said the sex with Coleman was consensual. Felony charges were eventually dropped and Barnett pleaded guilty in 2014 to a misdemeanor child endangerment charge and was sentenced to two years of probation and a four-month suspended jail term.
So nice to have parents who are politicians. How do you feel about it now?
Coleman became a fierce advocate for sexual assault survivors and co-founded SafeBAE, an organization that works to raise awareness about sexual assault in middle and high schools.
"It broke my heart," said Farrah Khan, a survivor of sexual violence who does education across North America about sexual assault consent and bystander intervention and is the manager of Consent Comes First at Ryerson University's Office of Sexual Violence Support and Education. "We don't recognize enough what we ask of survivors. ... Here's a young woman who not only was healing from the violence that she was subjected to, but was doing all this activism and work, which is commendable and wonderful, and we hold them up and say, 'Wow, what a hero.' But also we need to hold space for the fact that it's messy, it's difficult, and it's hard to survive. There are so many of us who don't."
Coleman's suicide is deeply felt, especially among the survivors she worked alongside and encouraged, and the young girls who saw her as a role model.
“Daisy, her story, and her advocacy meant so much to advocates and survivors of sexual violence of all ages – but especially to high school students who saw their own stories reflected in hers," said Scott Berkowitz, president of RAINN. "Every survivor, advocate, and organization who fights for justice, supports survivors, and works to end sexual violence will continue her legacy.”
So, Scott, why is not peer-on-peer child sexual abuse included in your child sexual abuse statistics? It's not like things could have turned out worse if it were an adult who raped her.
Emily McCombs
@msemilymccombs
I am struggling with the news that Daisy Coleman has died by suicide. She wrote a beautiful essay about her experience for xojane in 2013. Her assault story was similar to mine and I identified with her pain. Sometimes I don’t know how any of us survive what they do to us.
Why sexual assault 'sticks'
Sexual assault is not episodic. It has long-term impacts, which can ebb and flow.
Survivors of sexual violence are at an increased risk for developing depression, PTSD, substance use disorders, eating disorders and anxiety disorders. Sexual violence can lead to disrupted sleep, an inability to focus, fear of leaving safe spaces and a sustained state of hypervigilance.
“It’s kind of a perfect storm. If you’re trying to design a traumatic experience that would really stick with a person, it’s hard to think of a worse one than sexual violence,” said Seth J. Gillihan, who runs a clinical practice and researched PTSD with the University of Pennsylvania.
Amazon pulls disgusting ‘realistic’ child sex dolls from website in France
Caution: Disgusting graphic details follow
A worker touches the hand of inflatable sex doll at a toy factory in Fenghua, China, February 13, 2012
© Reuters / Jason Lee
Amazon France has withdrawn advertisements for child-sized realistic sex dolls, following a campaign by activists. However, worldwide laws against the dolls remain scant, and Amazon’s enforcement is lacking.
When screenshots of the dolls surfaced online over the weekend, French anti-pedophile activist group AIVI alerted the authorities. On Monday, Adrien Taquet, France’s junior child protection minister, announced that Amazon had pulled the ads at his request.
“Banishing child crime from our society is everyone’s responsibility,” Taquet tweeted.
Read at your own risk; this is truly disgusting!
However, while some advertisements were removed, more remained active on Amazon France as of Monday evening. Activists provided links to several dolls for sale which clearly depicted minors, and whose manufacturers boasted of the dolls’ “realistic three holes,” and their “discreet shipping” – a feature likely valued by buyers, given the repulsive nature of the products.
Amazon’s own rules prohibit the sale of “products depicting children or characters resembling children in a sexually suggestive manner,” as well as “Sexual health products unless listed by pre-approved sellers.” However, similar dolls have cropped up before on the site, and have remained online until government authorities brought the listings to Amazon’s attention.
Child sex dolls were discovered for sale in the US last year, and swiftly removed by Amazon. However, in some cases the sellers did not have their accounts banned. Similar cases cropped up in the UK and Austria in recent years, and on almost every occasion, new listings were put online within hours of Amazon’s removals.
With Amazon thus far lax to enforce its own policies, the onus has fallen on activists and authorities. Yet all they can do is request removal, as the sale of these dolls is legal in some jurisdictions. Importing the dolls is illegal in the UK, but their ownership is legal. The depiction of minors in a pornographic setting is illegal under section 227-23 of the French Penal Code, yet this law does not mention dolls in any way.
In the US, where such dolls are legal, a bill – aptly named the CREEPER Act – that would have banned their importation and transportation passed the House in 2018, but it has languished in the Senate ever since.
Meanwhile, Amazon gives users no form to quickly report the sale of child sex dolls, meaning outrage campaigns stand the best chance of getting the ads taken down.
Bezos and company will stand before Jesus Christ one day, and it will not be pretty.
New five-year figures show crisis of child sex offences in Hertfordshire and Essex
By Sinead Corr- sinead.corr@iliffemedia.co.uk
Child sexual offences in Hertfordshire have risen 73% in the last five years in what the NSPCC calls a "crisis of abuse".
In Essex, incidents have increased by 68.2% – with both counties exceeding the 60% average for the East of England region.
According to the children's charity's research, more than 73,500 child sex offences were recorded by UK police in 2019-20 and Childline counselling sessions about sexual abuse in the family tripled during lockdown.
Childline counselling sessions about sexual abuse in the family tripled during lockdown
Police forces in the East of England recorded an average of 23 child sexual offences a day last year.
There were 8,579 recorded offences including rape, online grooming and sexual assault against children in 2019-20 – up 60% in the five years since 2014-15.
During the same period in Herts, offences rocketed from 607 to 1,051 while in Essex the toll increased from 1,293 to 2,175.
In the UK, there were 73,518 such offences recorded in 2019-20 – up 57% in the five years since 2014-15. That is equivalent to nearly 200 offences a day last year.
Where sex and age were recorded, girls were four times as likely to be victims. There were more than 8,000 offences committed against 14-year-olds, making it the most common age group to report offences.
There were 12,374 sex crimes recorded against children under 10, while 449 offences were recorded against babies yet to reach their first birthday.
449 offences were recorded against babies yet to reach their first birthday
Remember, these are 'reported' child sexual crimes. These are likely to be a small percentage of the actual sexual crimes against children.
NSPCC chief executive Peter Wanless said: "The crisis of child sexual abuse is not going away, and behind these figures are thousands of children and young people who have reported crimes that can have a devastating impact on their lives.
"Urgent action is needed to prevent abuse and to ensure children are supported to recover when they bravely speak out.
"We need concerted leadership from governments across the UK to implement strategies on tackling child sexual abuse that put the experiences and needs of children at their heart and are effective in preventing abuse and helping young people recover."
The NSPCC wants the anticipated Tackling Child Sexual Abuse Strategy to bring Government departments, including the Home Office, Department for Education and Ministry of Justice, together to join up efforts to prevent sexual abuse across society.
Anyone concerned about a child can contact the NSPCC helpline for advice on 0808 800 5000. Adult victims of non-recent sexual abuse can also get in touch for support.
Childline is available for young people on 0800 1111 or at www.childline.org.uk.
As the Global Economy Melts Down, Human Trafficking Is Booming
Desperate families face risky job offers, dubious loans, and online predators.
BY JAMILLE BIGIO, HAYDN WELCH | Foreign Policy
A group of foreign women rounded up by police from karaoke bars in Thailand’s southern province
of Narathiwat are taken to city hall during a campaign against human trafficking on Nov. 9, 2018.
MADAREE TOHLALA/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
The COVID-19 pandemic is making the world worse in lots of ways. One of the more unexpected ways is that the already difficult task of ending modern slavery is even more challenging. With the pandemic expected to drive at least 70 million people into extreme poverty, according to a recent World Bank estimate, desperate workers will be more likely to accept risky job offers or high-interest loans to survive, only to end up trapped in exploitative situations. Companies, anxious to ramp up production after months of lost income, may be more willing to hire the cheapest labor available, including from unethical recruiters, and to skip labor inspections and other oversight measures—thereby enabling human traffickers to thrive.
The pandemic-related global economic meltdown should be no excuse to look the other way. Beyond being rightfully condemned as a grave affront to human rights and dignity, human trafficking also weakens economies and threatens global security. Forced labor affects 25 million people and produces an estimated $150 billion annually, making it one of the world’s most profitable crimes. This practice bankrolls criminal organizations, supports terrorist and armed groups, enables abusive regimes, and undermines stability. Where trafficking flourishes, our collective safety and prosperity flounder.
As countries scramble to mitigate the extensive harm caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, leaders should ensure the most vulnerable in their societies do not fall prey to exploitation. Attention should be paid first to trafficking survivors—72 percent of whom are women and girls. In recent months, domestic workers—many living in slavery-like conditions—have experienced increased physical and sexual violence, decreased wages, and confinement in the home. In parts of the Middle East, for example, exploiters withhold victims’ documentation, preventing them from returning to their home countries. Where border closures are blocking travel, survivors who escape their traffickers find themselves stranded. In the Ivory Coast, for example, the Fuller Project’s Shola Lawal and Corinne Redfern reported on a group of Nigerian women who fled the brothel where they were held captive and are now trapped in a shelter, as Nigeria’s travel restrictions prevent their return home. The pandemic is also taking a toll on the social services that support—and help identify—people who have survived trafficking: A recent UN survey of organizations working in 102 countries found that many fear that the diversion of funding and attention away from anti-trafficking responses will force them to close their shelters, without which survivors risk homelessness and further exploitation.
200% spike in CSA forums in one month
For children around the world, meanwhile, global school closures increase their risk of exploitation. Children are spending more time on the internet for school work and social interaction, and traffickers are increasingly targeting them for sexual exploitation online. There was a 200 percent spike in posts on child sex abuse forums between February and March, combined with a nearly 90 percent drop in the amount of child abuse material removed from the internet, as investigators struggled to keep pace due to reduced staff capacity and the closure of hotlines used to report abuse.
Nearly 90 percent drop in the amount of child abuse material removed from the internet
Out-of-school children are at further risk of forced labor due to their families’ economic stress. The United Nations predicts that the combination of stay-at-home orders, economic vulnerability, and disrupted prevention programs will contribute to 13 million more child marriages around the world (a form of modern slavery), as families force adolescent girls to marry early as an economic safety net.
Expected increase of 13 million child brides due CV19
For migrant workers—already vulnerable to trafficking and exploitation—the COVID-19 pandemic is only compounding their risk. As mass layoffs cost migrant workers their essential daily income, those already on the edge of poverty are left with little ability to buy food and scant or no access to health care and social services. Their debts continue to accumulate, and their families at home, reliant on wages they are no longer sending back, become more desperate. Together, these factors increase the likelihood that migrant workers will accept potentially fraudulent job offers to survive. Already, one in four victims of forced labor was a migrant worker before the pandemic; now, many more are potentially vulnerable to trafficking and exploitation.
Indeed, as economies reopen and production ramps back up, companies and policymakers can anticipate—and should plan for—an increased potential for forced labor. Pressure to meet heightened demand will incentivize companies to take shortcuts and save costs that risk exacerbating modern slavery. Labor abuse has already been documented to match the skyrocketing demand for personal protective equipment, or PPE.
How leaders address the pandemic’s effects on those at greatest risk for exploitation and human trafficking will shape the future of our economies and societies. As the private sector rehires workers and labor migration rises to pre-pandemic levels, businesses have an opportunity to modernize labor recruitment to increase safety, transparency, and efficiency— checking corruption and reducing the risks of forced labor. It is likewise essential that governments strengthen and enforce regulations for labor migration and ethical recruitment (in addition to broader regulations to prevent trafficking, such as those that protect domestic workers and address online exploitation). To hold traffickers accountable and block their profits, law enforcement should partner with the financial sector to identify and interrupt the illicit financial transactions of traffickers.
National efforts to strengthen social safety nets to assist communities affected by COVID-19 can simultaneously prevent workers and families in economic distress from accepting exploitative situations, for themselves or their children. To realize this benefit, governments should ensure that at-risk communities have access to basic services, from healthcare and cash transfers to credit and low interest rates, regardless of their recent employment history or legal status. And to protect survivors of trafficking, governments should guarantee the availability of hotlines and safe accommodation that allow for physical distancing during the pandemic—in addition to longer-term support for survivors’ reintegration in society.
Human trafficking thrives on poverty and vulnerability, both of which are growing exponentially during the COVID-19 crisis. But as the pandemic wreaks havoc on society, it also creates an opportunity for leaders to “build back better”—to make their countries safer and more equitable for all, and in so doing, finally end modern slavery.
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Sexual offences against children in Scotland increase by almost a third
by Press Association
Sexual offences against children in Scotland have increased by almost a third over the last five years, new figures show.
Police Scotland data obtained by children’s charity NSPCC show there were 5,311 recorded offences in 2019-20 – an average of 15 a day and up 30% in the five years since 2014-15.
This includes instances of rape, online grooming and sexual assault.
The most recent figures show girls were five times as likely to be victims.
A total of 1,588 offences were against children under 13 – 45% of crimes where age was recorded.
Matt Forde, NSPCC Scotland’s head of service, said: “Every day, children in Scotland are being sexually abused and having to live with the devastating impacts of this abuse on their lives. Urgent action is needed to prevent abuse and to ensure children are supported to recover when it is disclosed.
“In Scotland, we have seen numerous plans and initiatives launched to deal with various aspects of such abuse, including child sexual exploitation and harmful sexual behaviour.
“However, we believe it is crucial to have a joined-up approach when tackling this crime and want to see a strategy which puts the experiences and needs of children at the heart of it and is effective in preventing abuse and helping young people recover.”
The figures were released as an NSPCC report found contacts to Childline about sexual abuse in the family tripled during the coronavirus lockdown, with an average of 23 per week since March 23.
One girl, 17, said: “It started during lockdown, about seven weeks ago. I don’t want to live here any more. I feel I should tell social services about how abusive Dad is, but I don’t feel ready to tell them about the sexual abuse part.”
NSPCC Scotland has now called on the Scottish Government to produce a strategy to combat child sexual abuse.
It said this should put the needs of children and young people at the centre of how authorities respond to child sexual abuse, with a focus on effective prevention and victims having access to support.
The charity said the availability of specialist therapeutic sexual abuse services is “patchy and inconsistent across the country”.
And it is calling for health, policing, social work, therapeutic and other services to be provided to children in one location.
A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: “The safety and wellbeing of Scotland’s children and young people is a key priority and we are working to ensure that all children and families who need support are able to access it.
“Child sexual abuse is complex with a devastating impact and requires a co-ordinated, multi-agency response.
“Intervention and protection are vital in the support of survivors and victims and we are revising Scotland’s National Child Protection Guidance, though we recognise how disappointing the delay caused by our response to the Covid-19 pandemic has been.
“No child should have to endure abuse and anyone who suspects a child may be at risk of harm should contact police.”
It's just my opinion, based on a number of stories on this blog over the past ten years, but I think Scotland is decades behind most western countries in dealing with child sexual abuse. Their numbers are highly suspect due to the poor way police, prosecutors, and Sherriffs handle such cases. I suspect the real numbers are many times what is recorded in police logs.
North Yorkshire Police records nearly three child sex offences every day, new figures reveal
North Yorkshire Police recorded nearly three child sex offences on average every day last year, new figures reveal.
Charity the NSPCC has found that the force recorded 1,042 cases in 2019-2020, which works out at 2.8 offences per day.
That’s an increase of more than two-thirds – 66.9% – in five years.
Across Yorkshire & Humberside, there were 9,187 recorded offences including rape, online grooming and sexual assault against children.
The NSPCC said the figures – obtained from police forces via the Freedom of Information Act – show the need for national leadership in response and urged the Home Office to publish and implement its Tackling Child Sexual Abuse Strategy.
The call comes as an NSPCC report found contacts from young people to Childline about sexual abuse in the family tripled during lockdown.
Child sex offences – Yorkshire
Force 2014/15 2019/20 5-year Offences
increase per day
2019/20
Humberside 888 1,585 78% 4
North Yorkshire 624 1,042 66.9% 2.8
South Yorkshire 1,577 2,036 29% 5
West Yorkshire 2,271 4,524 99% 12
Regional Total 5,360 9,187 71% Regional Total 23.8
Internet dangers
Detective Superintendent Allan Harder, head of safeguarding at North Yorkshire Police, said: “North Yorkshire Police and our community partners recognised at the beginning of the coronavirus lockdown that young people could be increasingly exposed to sexual abuse online and at home while away from schools and colleges.
“From the outset, we have co-ordinated a series of targeted communications to highlight the very real dangers that lurk on the internet and explain how parents and carers can help to reduce the risk of children falling victim to abuse and child sexual exploitation.
“If you are a victim of sexual abuse or you know someone who is, our message is please don’t suffer in silence,” Det Supt Harder said. “We are here to help you every step of the way.”
Child sexual offences in Wales double in five years
WALES
Girls were almost four times more likely to be victims of child sexual offences
NSPCC Cymru has released new figures which show child sexual offences in Wales have doubled in five years.
The charity's report found police forces in Wales recorded an average of 10 child sex offences every day last year.
3,715 recorded offences including rape, grooming and sexual assault against children in 2019/20.
In the past year, there were 558 offences committed against 14-year-olds, making it the most common age group to report offences, with 868 sex crimes recorded against children aged ten and under.
Where gender and age were recorded, girls were almost four times more likely to be victims.
Overall, the number of recorded child sexual offences increased by 107% in the five years since 2014/15.
NSPCC Cymru said the figures across Wales show the need for a Child Sexual Abuse Strategy beyond 2021, which is when it currently runs until.
Cecile Gwilym from the charity said: "Whilst we have been encouraged that the Welsh Government listened to our calls for a holistic strategy to prevent child sexual abuse in all its forms, further steps must now be taken to ensure this strategy is extended beyond 2021.
"This should focus on effective prevention, protecting children at risk of child sexual abuse, and providing timely child-centred support to those who have been abused to help them recover from such trauma.
"A holistic response to child sexual abuse should include access to specialist services, an increased focus on perpetrators and interventions to support young people displaying harmful sexual behaviour."
Sexual abuse can have a devastating and untold effect
on the lives of those impacted.
Cecile Gwilym, NSPCC Cymru
The Welsh Government published its National Action Plan on Preventing and Responding to Child Sexual Abuse in 2019, which was the first of its kind in the UK. It said its plan sets out "clear actions to prevent child sexual abuse, to protect children at risk and to support abused children."
A Welsh Government spokesperson added: "We have already said we will consider learning from the Child House pilot project and services in Wales are developing in line with this approach. The implementation of an All Wales Traumatic Stress Quality Improvement Initiative will also inform evidence based support for children traumatised through sexual abuse."
Scotland, unfortunately, has nothing like this going on. Neither does Canada.
Six child sex attacks a day in NI with recorded offences up 37% since 2015, figures reveal
Six child sex offences are recorded every day in Northern Ireland, alarming figures have revealed.
By Mark Bain, Belfast Telegraph
Six sexual offences against children are now being committed on average every day in Northern Ireland, alarming figures have revealed.
Statistics from the PSNI, obtained by NSPCC, show that in the last year there were 2,082 recorded offences against under 18s - representing a rise of 37% in the five years since 2014/15.
The charity also said the number of contacts from young people to Childline about sexual abuse in the family have tripled during the lockdown.
Across the UK there were 73,518 recorded offences including rape, online grooming and sexual assault against children in 2019/20 - up 57% in the five years since 2014/15.
Northern Ireland and Ireland, like Scotland are well behind England and Wales in dealing with child sexual abuse in their justice system. The numbers represent a small percentage of the actual abuse that is currently happening in Northern Ireland.
Social work supervision offered ‘no challenge or direction’
in case of suspected child sexual abuse
Southampton serious case review finds practitioners focused on mother's needs, rather than risk of sexual harm to boy who disclosed abuse and exhibited sexualised behaviour
by Alex Turner on August 17, 2020 in Children
Image of laptop and magnifying glass (credit: Paweł Michałowski / Adobe Stock)
(credit: Paweł Michałowski / Adobe Stock)
Supervision of social workers involved with a family where child sexual abuse was suspected provided “no challenge or direction” during two years of inadequate child protection planning, a serious case review has found.
The highly critical investigation carried out by Southampton Safeguarding Children Partnership said the city’s children’s services failed to fulfil their responsibilities to a young boy, ‘Freddie’, after he reported sexually inappropriate behaviour towards him from his parents and exhibited sexualised behaviour himself.
It found children’s social care practice appeared to focus on his mother’s needs, rather than the risk of sexual harm to Freddie, meaning any effective response was lacking, despite a longstanding history of alleged abuse within the family.
Damaging case drift was fuelled by staff changes and absences – with social workers regularly missing core group meetings – poor management oversight, delays in assessments and uncertainty around how to deal with the situation in Freddie’s home, the review found.
It added that there was “strong evidence of the multi-agency machinery around formal child protection processes being ineffective”, with other organisations failing to call out perceived shortcomings of social workers.
While the review period concluded in 2016, the report warned that a number of areas of poor practice – including around other cases involving intra-familial sexual abuse, ineffectual core groups, and the standard of management – had continued to be problematic.
Longstanding concerns
Freddie’s family had been known to children’s services since 1999, 15 years before the start of the period covered by the serious case review, due to concerns around abuse of his elder half-sister and half-brother.
These included 2004 reports by the mother of sexual abuse of the siblings at the hands of their father, 2007 allegations made of indecent assault on Freddie’s half-brother by his father and their mother’s relationship with a Schedule One offender – one convicted of a specified offence against children – four years later, leading to child protection plans being put in place. The offender was found to have sexually abused Freddie’s half-sister, though the plan was removed in 2009 after the mother ended the relationship.
During 2011 there were also 17 contacts with children’s services relating to the mother struggling with the two elder children and Freddie, then a toddler, with seven the following year. At the end of 2013, Freddie’s pre-school contacted children’s services with concerns about his sexualised behaiour and his father’s inappropriate behaviour towards him. In April 2014, his half-brother was convicted of rape – though this was later reduced to a lesser offence.
In June of that year, Freddie and his siblings were placed on child protection plans under the category of sexual abuse, with Freddie having frequently acted in a sexually inappropriate way at school, and made statements about his mother and father behaving similarly towards him.
Two years later, with the plan having remained in place and Freddie continuing to display “aggressive and sexualised” behaviours, he was taken into care where he made a number statements regarding sexual abuse he had received and witnessed.
‘Collusive’ practice
The review found evidence of agencies colluding with the mother rather than being focused on the risk of sexual harm to Freddie, with her being seen as a protective factor and being allowed to speak on behalf of the children rather than them being seen by themselves by practitioners.
Speaking to children without a parent present should be a minimum procedure where there is the slightest possibility of sexual abuse. No wonder children have no voice!
“Practice from Southampton children’s services appears to have been one where the focus was on the mother’s needs with a failure to respond to the risks of sexual harm faced by Freddie,” it said.
“Given the explicit lack of recognition of actual, or likely, sexual harm to Freddie it follows that the response was equally lacking.”
Despite information provided by Freddie in 2013 and 2014 to several agencies about inappropriate behaviour by his parents, there was no evidence of follow-up discussions by social workers in supervision and strategy discussions during this time.
The origins of Freddie and his half-brother’s sexualised behaviour were never established, with a focus on managing the behaviour rather than understanding it.
“Understanding the origins of Freddie’s sexual abuse (as best as possible) was critical to creating an effective safety plan given the high possibility that Freddie continued to live in the same household as his abuser,” it said.
There is more to this story at Community Care.
One would think if children had a voice it would be to their social worker. But, obviously, not always. Children only have a voice if someone is listening!
I loathe to criticize social workers; they have one of the most difficult jobs in the world. Most often they are overworked and pushed too hard by supervisors, and are understaffed while people enter and exit the field in short terms because of the stress involved.
The solution lies at the top with adequate provision of workers, adequate payscales, and adequate time off to deal with the stress.
The thousands of 'hidden' children in Greater Manchester who have slipped through the net in lockdown
On average, 624 children are referred to social services every week across Greater Manchester, with schools closed that number has fallen
By Alice Richardson, Local Democracy Reporter
Up to 6,000 children who normally would have been referred to social services in Greater Manchester have potentially been missed during lockdown.
Social care professionals are calling for a change in approach to tackle the ‘hidden harm’ faced by children who are stuck at home with abusive family members while schools remain closed.
Alison Alexander, the CEO of children’s services support organisation Cornerstone, said referrals have dropped in many parts of the UK by 50pc, and by up to 75pc in some places.
She said children are facing appalling mistreatment, starvation, abuse and sexual exploitation and Greater Manchester’s most vulnerable children could be slipping through the support net.
In normal circumstances, 624 children are on average referred to social services each week across Greater Manchester – meaning that in the 20 weeks since lockdown started in March, 12,480 children would usually have been referred.
But with an estimated drop in referrals of around 50pc, that means up to 6,240 children may have been missed.
Ms Alexander said: “It’s a phenomenal number and it’s horrible to say, but children are being left at home for longer than they should be. These kids are having things done to them that if it happened to an adult, they’d be having a nervous breakdown.
“And these kids are expected to deal with these things. On what basis is a kid more equipped to handle these things? The question should be, if you had to experience something of that nature, what would be your response?
“And children don’t know how to speak up. These coercive experiences are scary, embarrassing… they think, who are you going to tell? And if that’s your experience from someone who’s meant to love you and take care of you, why would you go to another adult about what happened?
There is more to this story on The Manchester Evening News.
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