UK Child Exploitation Levels ‘Almost Back to Victorian Times’ says Anti-Slavery Czar

January is Human Exploitation Awareness Month

Street urchins in 19th century London. © Stapleton Historical Collection

The UK’s anti-slavery and trafficking czar has made a damning indictment with claims that child exploitation there has now almost reached Victorian-era levels. He cites the operations of drug gangs as a major cause.

Shaun Sawyer, chief constable of Devon and Cornwall Police and the UK lead on slavery and human trafficking, said drug gangs exploit the space between “the school gate and the front door” which he described as a vacuum left in the wake of government cuts for child services and increased austerity measures under the Conservative government. 

“More police officers will make a dent, but it won’t stop the causes. One of the solutions to the causes is the gap between the dysfunctional home and the school,” Sawyer said. 

The UK has seen a 74 percent rise in exploitation of majority-British-national children, reaching some 726 people in 2019.

At least 638 children under 18 claimed to have suffered criminal exploitation in three months, mostly related to the illegal drug trade, which uses children as drug mules and debt collectors, especially in smaller rural communities far from their own homes. 

There were a reported 1,739 live modern slavery operations in Britain, encompassing figures for both children and adults, compared with a reported 180 operations in January 2016. 

“For these children they are almost back to Victorian times and are being criminally exploited. These kids are looking for family and security,” Sawyer added, decrying the sharp increase in the number of child grooming victims over the last five years and citing a lack of youth facilities and school exclusions. 

There were approximately 18,700 suspected child grooming victims in 2018-19, up from some 3,300 just five years ago. 

“For understandable reasons of austerity, state youth services have been vacated. This gap of youth provision between the school and family is the void that the exploiters are filling.”

Sawyer also warned against gender bias in law enforcement and urged seeing boys as victims of the same exploitation. 

“We accept that a 14-year-old girl does not make a choice to sleep with multiple men. I don’t think it is an informed choice to choose repeatedly to steal or deal drugs, and then hand over the profits,” Sawyer concluded.

“We’ve learned that girls who are exploited can be victims, but we seem unable or unwilling to learn the same lessons for boys where criminal exploitation is concerned.”

Austerity Harms Hunt for Sexual Abuse Gangs, Says British Ex-Prosecutor

Australia's heartfelt apology to child sex abuse victims is never going to happen in Britain. In fact, it seems the Brits have learned nothing from the horrendous scandals in Huddersfield, Newcastle, Rochdale, Rotherham, Oxford, etc., etc. And let us not forget the Catholic and Anglican contributions to the destruction of a generation of children.

But it seems the British attitude to all this is that it is behind them, largely, and so now life can continue as it did before, in blissful ignorance of the extreme suffering of another generation of children. Children have no voice. They don't vote; they don't protest; they don't blog; they are never quoted in the news, so the government can easily ignore them.

I hope that the future inquiry that investigates the government response that allows child sex abuse to flourish in Britain again, will have the authority to charge government officials with neglecting their duty and responsibility to protect children. 

Cuts have ‘come at the wrong time’ after the Rochdale case raised national awareness, says former CPS expert Nazir Afzal

Mark Townsend, The Guardian

Potential victims of grooming gangs are no safer now than when the issue became a national scandal almost a decade ago, according to the Crown Prosecution Service’s former lead on child sexual abuse and violence against women and girls.

Speaking after 20 men were found guilty on Friday of belonging to a gang that raped and abused girls as young as 11 in the west Yorkshire town of Huddersfield, Nazir Afzal said the government’s austerity programme had seriously undermined attempts to protect victims.

Afzal, who is also a former chief prosecutor for the north-west of England and in 2011 reopened the infamous Rochdale grooming case, said cuts to the policing budget and a loss of vital local services had created a “perfect storm” of challenges that meant perpetrators were getting away with child sex abuse.

“Austerity has come at the wrong time,” he said. “When finally voices are being heard, finally authorities are beginning to do their job properly and finally the NGO sector are being listened to, there isn’t any money to go around. They are doing this with one hand behind their back. As a consequence, clearly people will not get justice.”

Afzal cited one typical example of the cuts: a van that would regularly pass by fast-food outlets to help identify potentially vulnerable girls has now been axed by the local council because of budget constraints.

He said that the Rochdale case – which became the subject of the BBC series Three Girls – had led to dramatic improvements in how the justice system approached the issue, but that these had subsequently been compromised.

“One of the problems with austerity has been that the very first thing that goes is training. Organisations that should have been upping their training have done the bare minimum.”

Also, he said, statutory agencies had targeted their most highly paid senior staff for redundancy. “It’s almost like a perfect storm.”

Afzal, the first Muslim to be appointed as a chief prosecutor, also spoke on the issue of abuse and race, saying that although the debate was often framed around the idea of Asian men as perpetrators, white men were responsible for the vast majority of child sex abuse cases: “Intelligence has suggested that when you prosecute Pakistani men and put them in jail, white men step into that void.”

On Saturday, the home secretary, Sajid Javid, came in for severe criticism after tweeting about “Asian paedophiles”, in reference to the Huddersfield gang whose members were found guilty of more than 120 offences against 15 girls. Labour MP David Lammy was among those who felt that the minister, by “singling out” ethnicity, had pandered to the far right.

In fact, he had pandered to the truth, and was actually being gentle in not naming Pakistani Muslims as the main culprits. He was also quoting the judge who sentenced the men.

There have been hardly been any cases south of Birmingham. What the hell is going on? Is it because there is no problem?

Afzal said that one characteristic of the grooming cases that did need highlighting was an apparent north-south divide in authorities’ approach to the issue. As the Welsh government’s new adviser on violence against women, he believes that the southern half of England has seemingly adopted a position of not fully investigating the issue.

“When it first happened, people said, ‘this is just a northern thing’ – mainly because we in the north were looking. And if you don’t look, you don’t find.

“The perceptions is that northern towns and the Midlands have got a better handle on it, but London, the south-east, the south-west really are not focusing on it and claiming they don’t have any problems.”

He said that, apart from high-profile cases like those prosecuted in Oxford and Aylesbury, there was a conspicuous lack of convictions.

“There have been hardly been any cases south of Birmingham. What the hell is going on? Is it because there is no problem? I don’t accept that at all. Is it because it’s not a priority? I hope that not’s true. I do think it’s that thing about not turning over a stone.”

As Child Abuse Spikes, University of Iowa Child Assessment Clinic Closes

It specialized in type of trauma care gaining praise

Children are voiceless - this does not help

The University of Iowa Stead Family Children's Hospital is seen in April 2017 from Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City. With UI's Child Assessment Center closed, suspected child abuse cases are no longer referred to an on-site clinic. (Stephen Mally/The Gazette)

By Maria Curi, IowaWatch

As child abuse cases in Iowa spiked dramatically, the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics closed a specialized outpatient clinic that provided comprehensive services for 15 years to Eastern Iowa.

The closure means hundreds of child abuse victims and their families will not be able to access a method of trauma care that experts praise.

The facility, the Child Assessment Clinic, was run by Dr. Resmiye Oral, a pediatrician, and was closed last summer. Its clients now are sent 32 miles away to the UnityPoint Health-St. Luke’s Child Protection Center in Hiawatha, one of six such centers in the state.

The shutdown came as the number of child abuse findings sharply increased in Iowa. Abuse findings increased 26 percent to more than 2,000 cases from 2016 to 2017, including increases in sexual abuse, physical abuse, neglect and cases of infants having illegal drugs in their system, according to a report in the Des Moines Register.

Yet the state Department of Human Services, which oversees child protection services, suffered a $4.3 million cutback in state funding amid the growing burden.

Tom Moore, the University of Iowa Health Care spokesman, said the UIHC clinic was closed in part because the hospital considered its clinic and the St. Luke center duplicative in that both are “outpatient settings.”

However, the services of the two clinics were not entirely duplicative, according to an IowaWatch review involving interviews, research and a study of their respective programs.

The UIHC clinic provided markedly different services in a hospital setting than the St. Luke center does, including critical elements of the highly-touted “trauma-informed care” for dealing with child abuse victims and their families.

St. Luke’s — the state’s oldest child protection center — and other child protection centers like it play an important role in protecting children against child abuse in Iowa. It sees a far greater number of cases than the UI clinic.

But Oral said the UIHC Child Assessment Clinic was the only medical setting in Iowa that practiced trauma-informed care with both the children and their parents. Now, trauma-informed care is practiced only on children in mental health clinics such as Orchard Place in Des Moines.

“Sometimes an agency will say they’re practicing trauma-informed care and what they’re really doing is they’re practicing trauma-specific services."

- Gladys Noll Alvarez

Trauma-informed care project coordinator at Orchard Place

Trauma-informed care is a growing movement nationwide, said Gladys Noll Alvarez, trauma-informed care project coordinator at Orchard Place, where she has worked for 33 years.

“We’re one of the only places that … has chosen an organizational model that is a trauma-informed care model to implement and get certified,” Alvarez said.

Alvarez holds a UI master’s degree in social work and has worked with sexual abuse victims in individual, family and group therapy.

She said trauma-informed care is important in treating child abuse “because it understands that trauma is not something that happens to a select group of people, that trauma is universal, and that traumatic things happen to a majority of people and it impacts how we view our relationships with each other, with our clients, with our organization.”

Unlike other child protection centers, the UIHC assessment clinic accepted all abuse and neglect allegations regardless of whether they were reported to Human Services or law enforcement. It also accepted referrals of suspected child abuse victims from emergency rooms and lay people, including parents.

Dr. Charles Jennissen, a UIHC emergency room pediatrician, said Oral’s clinic provided a vital service to the families and children who rely on the UIHC. Although a hospital emergency room is ideal for identifying trauma in patients, it is not a good place for assessing and connecting them with behavioral health specialists. Jennissen said Oral’s clinic was an on-site setting to which he would refer these patients.

Oral, who provides inpatient consultation for children and families admitted to UIHC with concerns about child abuse or neglect, has more than 20 years of experience in child abuse pediatrics. She received training in identifying the cumulative impact on abuse victims from adverse childhood experiences through the ACE Interface Master Training Program.

“Our society has become such a stressful society that all of us are being traumatized,” Oral said. She said effective treatment requires understanding the trauma and family history and other child abuse assessments included in trauma-informed care.

Trauma-informed care can be applied to any system like health care or education. It consists of realizing the widespread impact of trauma, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The agency says trauma-informed care specialists understand the potential paths for recovery; and recognize the signs and symptoms of trauma in clients, families, staff and others involved with the system. They respond by integrating that knowledge into procedures and practices that avoid re-traumatization.

HOW IT WORKED AT UIHC

Oral used her clinic as a tool for practicing trauma-informed care by providing in-depth trauma screenings for children and their parents. Screenings identify emotional abuse and other trauma experts categorize as adverse childhood experiences. After those adverse experiences are identified, professionals use that information to resolve issues of abuse and neglect.

Oral said more research is needed to show administrators in charge of allocating hospital funds that trauma-informed care leads to better health outcomes.

In the fiscal 2019 budget, the state’s House Health and Human Services Appropriations Subcommittee allocated $40,511 for the study and collection of data on adverse childhood experiences. Subcommittee Chairman David Heaton, R-Mount Pleasant, said he understands the impact of adverse childhood experiences on someone’s behavior.

“It opens them up to all kinds of problems whether it be physical, mental — it can do everything,” he said.

Professionals measure trauma by the number of adverse experiences a child has confronted.

In 2012, a study from the Central Iowa ACEs Committee found that more than half of the state’s adult population experienced at least one adverse childhood experience. The most common was emotional abuse, which accounted for 28 percent of the total.

Nationwide, nearly 35 million or half of America’s children have experienced one or more types of childhood trauma, according to a 2012 study by the National Center for Health Statistics at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

When the UI Stead Family Children’s Hospital received a patient whom medical personnel suspected was a child abuse victim, the child was sent to the on-site assessment clinic.

At the clinic, Oral conducted a two-to-four-hour psychosocial assessment to identify adverse childhood experiences involving the child and the parents.

If the assessment indicated that families needed supplemental attention, Oral would connect them with therapists, psychologists and integrated pediatric health homes where care for adults with a serious mental illness and children with serious emotional disturbances are treated.

But, with the clinic now closed, a suspected child-abuse victim instead is sent from the Children’s Hospital to St. Luke’s Child Protection Center in Hiawatha.

The instances that have not been reported to Human Services or law enforcement but are at risk for abuse have one less clinic to go to where trauma-informed care is available, and they have no clinic available where these services are provided to both the children and parents.

HELP AT ST. LUKE’S

St. Luke’s is one of six child protection centers in Iowa and concentrates on child abuse cases.

The full process at St. Luke’s includes a forensic interview to determine facts about the suspected abuse, medical examination and a session involving the parents and a family advocate to assess parents’ attitudes and teach them about child abuse.

Julie Kelly, manager of St. Luke’s Child Protection Center, said in an interview that “we are not providing in-depth screenings for trauma, but I’m not sure what it is that she (Oral) was providing, just to be quite honest.”

When asked in a follow-up email whether it would be accurate to say St. Luke’s center does not practice trauma-informed care, Kelly wrote back: “That statement is absolutely not true or accurate. St. Luke’s CPC practices trauma-informed care.”

The center declined to supply IowaWatch with a list of its providers, or say whether its staff has received trauma-informed care training.

The staff, in addition to Kelly, includes a forensic interviewer trained and certified by the National Children’s Alliance, a medical director who is a family practice physician trained in child abuse, a registered nurse certified in sexual assault examinations and a family advocate certified in victim services. Kelly is a licensed master social worker and has worked at the St. Luke’s Child Protection Center for 23 years. She became manager of the center in December 2011.

“Sometimes an agency will say they’re practicing trauma-informed care and what they’re really doing is they’re practicing trauma-specific services,” said Alvarez.

Trauma-specific services recognize trauma and include collaborating with other human services agencies, which St. Luke’s does. In contrast, trauma-informed care, which Oral’s clinic practiced, requires that the entire organization be trained, and screenings have to be done not just on patients and but also on the agency’s staff.

Those screenings are required for everyone — from receptionists to administrators, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration — so they understand their own trauma because that “greatly” influences the individual’s receptivity and engagement with the services they provide.

“Whenever I’m speaking to people I really talk about the difference between just practicing trauma-informed interventions — which is very good, (and) I’m not downgrading that at all — but when an agency is practicing trauma-informed care it’s looking at trauma from both sides of that lens,” Alvarez said.

WHY CLINIC CLOSED

Oral said she thinks the UIHC closed the clinic because the Iowa Legislature cut Medicaid in fiscal 2018.

“It comes down to money,” Oral said. “And I don’t blame our administrators, because it is the Legislature’s responsibility. They cut down the budgetary support to the UIHC to such an extent administrators are left with no option but cutting costs.”

But Moore, the spokesman, said the UIHC’s decision to shut down Oral’s clinic had nothing to do with cost-cutting. In addition to eliminating what he calls duplication, Moore said UIHC wanted to increase collaboration with St. Luke’s center.

“The primary reason that the Child Assessment Clinic closed was to enable the UI to focus on its duty to provide inpatient care and ensure that outpatient services were provided by Child Protection Centers to patients and families affected by either a suspicion of, or evidence of, child abuse or neglect,” he wrote in an email.

At St. Luke’s Child Protection Center, a child believed to be victim of abuse meets with a forensic interviewer who seeks information about the abuse allegation that may be used in a criminal investigation and for determining the appropriate services for the child and family.

Authorities from Human Services and law enforcement observe the interview so the child does not have to repeat the experience to different agencies.

At the same time, family advocate Nancy Scheumann meets with the parents or guardians of the child in a referral and education session to discuss an information packet. That session reviews child abuse dynamics and behaviors the parents may expect from their child.

Scheumann also assesses the parents’ attitudes and feelings about the child abuse allegations, the investigation and the process used to assess the safety of the child’s living arrangements. She makes written referrals to follow-up sources when needed.

In fiscal 2017, the St. Luke’s Child Protection Center reported to the Iowa Department of Public Health that it saw 849 children and their families. Scheumann sees and follows up on an average of 12 families per week.

Oral’s clinic saw between 80 to 100 patients per year.

Both the Child Assessment Clinic and St. Luke’s center have provided evidence against child abusers to law enforcement. And both follow-up with the families until they indicate it is no longer needed.

Since closure of the Child Assessment Clinic at the UIHC, St. Luke’s Child Protection Center has seen an increase in consultations with medical staff and in medical referrals from the hospital, Kelly said.

But St. Luke’s doesn’t get any funding from UIHC. It’s funded through grants from St. Luke’s Hospital and private donations received through St. Luke’s Healthcare Foundation.

Kelly said the center used to have a full-time and a part-time family advocate, but the part-time family advocate was let go because there wasn’t enough work.

Now that the center is accepting referrals from the UIHC and its workload has increased, Kelly and Scheumann said they need another advocate.

“I think our center and all the other centers are doing a great job for families,” Kelly said.

This article was produced by the Iowa Center for Public Affairs Journalism-IowaWatch.org, a nonprofit news website that collaborates with Iowa news organizations to produce explanatory and investigative reporting.

Record Rates of Sexually Transmitted Diseases Hit US – CDC

    © Jean-Paul Pelissier / Reuters

Cases of chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis reached records levels in 2015 among young Americans, according the federal health officials. Highest rates are among gay and bisexual men. Among the causes are budget cuts in STD clinics and dating apps.

In 2015, there were more than

1.5 million chlamydia cases reported,

nearly 400,000 cases of gonorrhea,

and nearly 24,000 cases of syphilis

According to the new report in 2015, there were more than 1.5 million chlamydia cases reported, nearly 400,000 cases of gonorrhea, and nearly 24,000 cases of syphilis. In just a year since 2014, chlamydia cases grew by 5.9 percent, gonorrhea by 12.8 percent and syphilis great by 19 percent, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in a national study.

“We have reached a decisive moment for the nation,” Dr. Jonathan Mermin, director of the CDC’s center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention said in a release. “STD rates are rising, and many of the country’s systems for preventing STDs have eroded. We must mobilize, rebuild and expand services – or the human economic burden will continue to grow.”

The 2015 data showed Americans 15 to 24 years old accounted for nearly two-thirds of chlamydia diagnoses, and half of the gonorrhea cases. Gay and bisexual men accounted for the majority of gonorrhea cases, and 82 percent of syphilis cases. The health agency also said antibiotic-resistant gonorrhea may be higher among men who had sex with men.

The high rates of gonorrhea among men, the CDC thinks might be attributed to the advent of HIV treatment. Some may have stopped using condoms so consistently because they are no longer afraid of a deadly infection.

“But, unfortunately, HIV treatment has no impact on prevention of (other) STDs,” Dr. Gail Bolan, Director of CDC’s Division of STD Prevention said, according to NBC. “Unless you are using condoms consistently and correctly, you are putting yourself at risk for STDs.”

Rate of Chlamydia infections in blacks is

5.9 times the rate for whites

The study found higher rates of chlamydia among black than white at 5.9 times the rate, and among American Indians than white at 3.8 times the rate.

Rate of Chlamydia infections in American Indians

is 3.8 times the rate for whites

Rates of gonorrhea infection were higher in the West and the South, and greater for men.

Other findings were the number of women diagnosed with syphilis had grown 27 percent, and infections from pregnant women to their babies had increased by 6 percent.

There are estimated 20 million new STDs cases in the US each year and half of these are among young people 15-24 years old.

The CDC said in 2012, 52 percent of state and local STD programs experience budget cuts, causing a reduction in clinic hours, contact tracing, and screening for common STDS. That same year, 21 local health department STD clinics closed.

A recent example was the Illinois Department of Health stopped paying for STD tests at 100 jails and local health department across the state.

All three of the diseases can be treated with antibiotics but the CDC said found part of the cause could be attributed to cuts in budgets to more half the STD programs at the state and local levels. In one year alone they discovered more than 20 health department STD clinics were closed.

“Fewer clinics mean reduced access to STD testing and treatment for those need these services,” said the CDC.

The federal health agency found young people and gay and bisexual men continued to face the greatest risk of becoming infected with STD.

430 babies born with syphilis

The health monitoring agency said there is a troubling increase in syphilis among newborns with 430 babies born with the disease.

“Up to 40 percent of babies born to women with untreated syphilis may be stillborn, or die from infection as a newborn,” said the CDC.

40 percent of babies born to women with untreated syphilis

may be stillborn, or die from infection as a newborn,

The agency found some women get no prenatal care at all, about 22 percent of those women with infected babies had no prenatal care in 2014, and others were tested early in the pregnancy but not later on.

“The health outcome of syphilis – miscarriage, stillbirth, blindness or stroke – can be devastating,” Dr. Bolan said in a release. "Every pregnant woman should be tested for syphilis, and sexually active gay and bisexual men should be tested for syphilis at least once a year.”

“The health outcome of syphilis –

miscarriage, stillbirth, blindness or stroke

Without testing and treatment, STD cases can do undiagnosed putting people at risk for severe and often irreversible health problems, including infertility, chronic pain and increased risk for HIV. The CDC also estimates STD cases can increase health care costs as much as $16 billion a year.

The report comes with recommendations. Pregnant women should be screened for STD as part of routine medical and prenatal care. STDs to be talked about publicly and condoms emphasized as well as monogamy. State and local health departments should direct more resources to areas hardest hit by the STD epidemic.

While some reports have linked dating and hook-up apps with an increase in STDs in some communities, Mermin said there's no hard evidence to show cause and effect. And he said such apps can be tools for good.

"The dating apps can also be vectors of prevention by increasing the amount of prevention information that people can see and also by linking people to STD and HIV testing," he said, according to NBC.

Budget Cuts Leave Irish Child Sex Abuse Victims at Risk

By Cormac O'Keeffe
Irish Examiner Reporter

Apologies by governments for historical child sexual abuse “ring hollow” when children continue to be abused by the system, a leading charity has said.

Children at Risk in Ireland (CARI), which provides therapeutic services to sexually abused children, said that the lack of services nationally was harming “a new generation of forgotten children” to whom an apology will need to be given one day.

CARI said if these children are left unsupported, many struggle to cope and that children as young as eight experience thoughts of suicide and self-harm.

CARI therapy supervisor Monica Murphy said the lack of services for such children was “a shocking scandal”. CARI runs a therapeutic service in Dublin and Limerick, while statutory services are only available in Dublin.

Speaking at the launch of CARI annual report for 2013 and 2014, she said: “There are huge gaps in the provision of services. Where you live in Ireland may decide whether a service is available or not. Therapeutic services are urgently needed at a regional and national level.”

She said CARI had been trying to bridge this gap, but has had to shut services in Cork, Naas, and Wicklow due to funding cuts. The reduction of funding has also resulted in the number of therapists it has being cut by a third. This has had the effect of a 29% cut in therapy hours available to children and their families.

“It feels like we are swimming against the tide for funding,” said Ms Murphy.

“National apologies for past practices ring hollow when children continue to be abused by an inadequate system. The sad irony is that the lack of services and practice is harming a new generation of forgotten children to whom a national apology will one day be owed.”

CARI chief executive Mary Flaherty said the charity has suffered “impossibly difficult budgetary pressures” since 2009. She said it was unacceptable that there were waiting lists at their Dublin and Limerick centres and that children can be waiting up to a year to be seen.

The report said that given an appropriate therapeutic space these children “can go on to lead a fulfilling life”.

Addressing the launch, Children’s Minister Dr James Reilly said he would “like to see more investment” in the area. He told the media afterwards that the lack of services nationally was “something this Government needs to look at — no doubt about that”.

The report, which said 3,000 children report sexual abuse every year, comes just days after the sixth anniversary of the damning Ryan report — the commission into child abuse at religious institutions. The CARI report said a new Child Advocates service in Galway — where a staff member supports children attending the sexual assault and treatment unit — was the first of its kind. Figures showed that 58% of children using the service were pre-schoolers. The most common age was four years old, with the youngest child being an infant of eight months.

Helpline: 1890 92 45 67; helpline@cari.ie; www.cari.ie 

Canada Going in Opposite Direction Than Rest of World in Sex Crime Prevention

Sex crime prevention program cut by Ottawa

Government evaluation of Circles of Support and Accountability
found it boosts public safety, saves money

The federal government is cutting funds for a program designed to prevent the most dangerous, high-risk sex offenders from repeating their crimes, just as its own five-year study has found the program dramatically improves public safety and saves money.

The 18 Circles of Support and Accountability (COSA) programs across the country now have about 700 trained volunteers who help safely reintegrate offenders from prison back into the community.

This is almost criminal in itself. Most industrialized nations are just finding out the extraordinary level of child sex abuse that occurs and are taking measures to deal with it. Corrections Canada, even though about a considerable proportion of their prisoners are incarcerated for child sex abuse, seem to think that it's okay for more Canadian children to be devastated by pedophiles. 

Dig into this, Mr Blaney. You will be horrified by the numbers of children being abused, you will be horrified by the ages of some of the victims, you will be horrified by the degree torture some of these kids endure. You can start right here! 

I fully expect you to find the money to keep this program working. For a couple million dollars a year, you can probably save many children from having their lives ruined from enduring the trauma of sex abuse. Don't let the blood of those innocent children get on your hands. Do the right thing! To sacrifice even one child for the sake of one or two million dollars, is just wrong.

Most sites are now preparing to close after funding from the Correctional Service of Canada ends March 31.

Evaluation found program reduces costs, recidivism

The looming closures come on the heels of a $7.5-million, five-year project by the National Crime Prevention Centre, funded by Public Safety Canada, showing the support program leads to dramatic reduction in repeat sex crimes. The capacity-building and evaluation project also found that for every dollar invested in the program, it saves $4.60.

Susan Love, who runs the program in Ottawa, is baffled by the decision to cut funds just as a study shows it to be successful and cost-effective.

"It's crazy, actually. It's like the left hand isn’t talking to the right hand," she told CBC News. "It's like this five-year study that was just done was irrelevant. Why invest the time and the money?"

For the support program in Ottawa, the federal funding was $12,000 a year from an operating budget of about $100,000 — far less than the annual cost of incarcerating one offender, Love notes. But it gave the program credibility to help leverage money from other funding sources, which can be a challenge with the "stigma" of sexual offenders, she said.

The correctional service has provided $650,000 in core funding annually, but half of that will be cut except for a program run by the Mennonite Central Committee with sites in Toronto, Hamilton and Kitchener, Ont., that has three years left on the contract. Those cuts come at the same time the five-year project funding — which had essentially boosted the annual budget to $2.2 million — expires.

Public safety at risk, program operators say

Love said the cuts have left program operators scrambling for alternate funding sources or preparing to close down. They have also launched a letter-writing campaign to Public Safety Minister Steven Blaney warning about consequences of the cutbacks.

"Without the support of COSA, the risk of further victimization will be greater, and public safety will be compromised," it reads.

Studies have shown that recidivism rates are 70 to 83 per cent lower among participants, and the evaluation finds examples of even greater success. One case site study in south Saskatchewan, for example, finds the support program has been "incredibly successful" by lowering reoffending rates by 95 per cent among participants.

The evaluation report found the program to be cost-effective in dollar terms and in reducing the suffering of victims.

"Every dollar invested in COSA to prevent a recidivistic event is worth $4.60 in savings to society in terms of justice system costs, medical costs, loss of productivity and pain and suffering," the report reads.

Andrew McWhinnie, a British Columbia psychologist who contributed to the evaluation, called the decision to cut funds a "mystery" since the program has proven to reduce victimization, a stated priority for the government.

"I would have to say that while the government has made much of its priority for victims and victims' rights, it is in effect, at the same time, backing away from the only non-governmental program in Canada that demonstrably prevents victimization in the first place," he said.

Made in Canada model adopted around the world

He noted that other countries — including the U.S., U.K., France, Italy, Spain, Australia and New Zealand — have or are in the process of instituting a "made in Canada" model of the support program as an important part of their criminal justice policies.

Funding was earmarked for cuts last year because it was deemed outside of the correctional service's core mandate, but it was extended until the evaluation report was complete.

Because the offenders are released at the end of their sentence on warrant expiry, they will be out in the community whether they participate in the volunteer program or not. Love said it comes down to whether it is better for the public to keep them marginalized and at higher risk to reoffend, or monitored and given tools to lower the risks of reoffending.

“They [government officials] talk very strongly about protecting victims — so why not support COSA? We have the same mission. That is our purpose — to prevent victims.”

Jean-Christophe de Le Rue, spokesman for the public safety minister, said funding for the evaluation through the National Crime Prevention Centre allowed for testing various models and data collection, but could not be renewed after the five-year cycle ended.

He did not address the issue of core funding cuts from the correctional service.

"Our government believes that dangerous sex offenders belong behind bars. That is why we have put forward a number of important measures to ensure our streets and communities are safe," he said.