1. National Youth Justice Conference 2015 Tackling Child Sexual Exploitation - Lessons for Scotland from Rotherham Martin Crewe Director, Barnardo’s Scotland

2. History Victorian ‘betrayed innocents’ – age of consent increased from 13 to 16 in 1922 1930s Judge: ‘wickedness of girls under 16 seducing men twice as old as themselves’ 1990s children still convicted for prostitution including 12 year old girls 2007 Judge: ‘sexually promiscuous and active’ 13 year old girl

3. Definition of Child Sexual Exploitation The sexual exploitation of children and young people is an often hidden form of children sexual abuse, with distinctive elements of exploitation and exchange. In practice, the sexual exploitation of children and young people under 18 might involve young people being coerced, manipulated, forced or deceived into performing and/or others performing on them, sexual activities in exchange for receiving some form of material goods or other entity (for example, food, accommodation, drugs, alcohol, cigarettes, gifts, affection). Sexual exploitation can occur through the use of technology and without the child's immediate recognition. National Guidance for Child Protection in Scotland, May 2014

4. Barriers to Disclosure Young people rarely self-disclose: Don’t recognise they are being exploited Loss of ‘love’ and attention Loss of alcohol, drugs etc Fear of retribution from ‘boyfriend’ Fear of separation from family / change of placement Reaction of other young people Shame Fear of loss of control following disclosure Not being believed Therefore the problem can be hidden

5. Scottish Parliament To examine the nature and extent of child sexual exploitation in Scotland (CSE); in conjunction with relevant agencies and stakeholders, to determine the most pertinent issues which need to be addressed; to examine the effectiveness of current measures aimed at tackling and preventing CSE; and to make recommendations on what needs to be done to improve the effectiveness of those measures. Public Petitions Committee Inquiry remit (March 2013) Report on tackling child sexual exploitation in Scotland published 14 January 2014 with 28 recommendations

6. Scottish Government National Action Plan to Tackle Child Sexual Exploitation (November 2014) Prevention of abuse (with specific measures for dealing with particularly vulnerable children) Disruption and prosecution of offenders through legislation Supporting children and young people affected by CSE

7. Lessons for Scotland from the Jay Report into Child Sexual Exploitation in Rotherham: A Barnardo’s Scotland discussion paper Published 12 September 2014

8. 15 Lessons for Scotland 1. The scale and seriousness of CSE in Rotherham was underplayed, despite hard evidence that was emerging from frontline workers 2. Failures to secure convictions may stem from vulnerable young people not being judged to be credible witnesses in court 3. Perpetrators target residential units, and the most troubled and isolated children 4. Where there is an ethnic dimension to CSE such as a large number of the abusers coming from a particular ethnic, cultural or social background, whatever that background may be, issues around CSE must be directly addressed with, and by, that group 5. Girls from white British backgrounds were not the only victims of sexual exploitation

9. 15 Lessons for Scotland 6. There are ‘hot spots’ where young people may be particularly vulnerable 7. In Rotherham, there was little or no specialist counselling or appropriate mental health support for victims, despite their acute distress and specialist mental health services deleted children’s names from the waiting list if they missed their first appointment 8. Online grooming can move from online contact to personalised contact very quickly 9. Sex education is often out of touch with what children need to know to protect them 10. A child going missing, whether overnight or longer, is a serious problem and should always be considered to be a risk indicator of CSE.

10. 15 Lessons for Scotland 11. Specialist services that sit outside of mainstream statutory services, which understand both CSE and child protection, have an important role to play. 12. Thresholds for intervention by agencies need to be clearly defined and set at an appropriate level. 13. “An issue or responsibility that belongs to everybody effectively belongs to nobody”. 14. Strategies, action plans, protocols and procedures do nothing at all for children if they are not implemented. 15. Finally, “this abuse is not confined to the past but continues to this day.”

11. Key Messages CSE is abuse – no child can consent to their own abuse CSE is hidden and young people will often not disclose, or even recognise they are being abused Prevalence of CSE is unclear but is probably widespread and has ‘fuzzy edges’ Central government, police, social work, education, health, COPFS, technology providers, communities, families and children themselves all have roles to play in tackling CSE But strategies, action plans, protocols and procedures do nothing at all for children if they are not implemented.