Effective solutions to child sexual abuse should focus on preventing it from happening in the first place

Cecile Gwilym, Policy and Public Affairs Manager at NSPCC Cymru

Child sexual exploitation and abuse is a deeply harmful crime that can have lifelong consequences for the victims and survivors.

NSPCC Cymru believes there must be a society-wide response across child protection, health, education, and policing to prevent and tackle this crime, and enable redress and recovery for survivors.

The Centre of Expertise on Child Sexual Abuse estimates that 500,000 children experience child sexual abuse every year in England and Wales. Child sexual exploitation and abuse can take many different forms and is committed by perpetrators from many different backgrounds in the spaces where children have a right to be safe – whether at home, in school, in the community or online.

Child sexual abuse and exploitation can have a devastating long-term impact on every part of a victim’s life. Through our Helpline and Childline, we hear directly about the toll sexual abuse can take on someone’s mental and physical wellbeing, well into the future.

But abuse can be prevented and stopped and – with the right support – those who’ve experienced the trauma of child sexual abuse can recover and rebuild their lives.

NSPCC Cymru has long argued that effective solutions to this abuse should focus on preventing it from happening in the first place, rather than solely concentrating on activities that respond after abuse has happened.

Public health approach

This is what experts call a public health approach to prevention. This provides a framework which tackles the causes of child sexual abuse and involves action ranging from raising public awareness and increasing understanding of it through to more targeted approaches with groups at particular risk of experiencing abuse. At its heart is an approach where every child, parent/carer, teacher, social worker, healthcare professional who works with children, family member and friend understands what child sexual abuse is and knows how they can be part of preventing it. This requires all of us to play our part: from central government to local communities; from journalists to parents; from teachers to children.

NSPCC Cymru has been working to support Welsh Government to develop its second National Action Plan to tackle CSA in Wales. It is our view that the forthcoming action plan must work to fully implement the recommendations of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA). It must also deliver strengthened prevention of online abuse, and work hand in hand with the new regulatory framework of the Online Safety Act.

Victims, survivors, and the children who are experiencing, or at risk of, sexual abuse today need urgent action that takes forward IICSA’s work and ensures change comes as quickly as possible.

Most crucially, if we are to fully understand the true nature and scale of child sexual exploitation and abuse and tackle it more effectively, we need better data on who perpetrators are and where they are operating.

The independent inquiry set out a key recommendation for a single core data set on child sexual abuse. We urge Welsh Government to take this forward as a priority, but we want them to go further to make sure the data collected is robust and sets out the prevalence of CSA. Building a full picture of these horrifying crimes will help ensure a more effective response from authorities to victims and survivors.

Statutory duty

Reporting child sexual abuse is also critical to stopping it. IICSA has recommended the introduction of a statutory duty on certain individuals, “mandated reporters”, to report child sexual abuse. In Wales, a number of specified public bodies-rather than individuals, have a statutory duty to report abuse under the Social Services and Wellbeing (Wales) Act 2014. There are ongoing conversations about strengthening the duty to report abuse in Wales.

NSPCC Cymru wants to see a full analysis and evaluation carried out by Welsh Government of the existing duty to report. This must underpin decisions about broadening duties or extending their applicability to wider groups of individuals. Such an evaluation should examine whether the existing organisational duty to report has delivered an increase in reporting, greater identification of children at risk, and most importantly, whether more children have received improved responses to concerns raised about abuse and neglect.  However, it is crucial that any duty to report abuse is framed to protect confidential spaces like Childline, where children can talk about what they are experiencing and get the help they need.

Resources

Those receiving disclosures from children must have also the resources to act on them. To achieve this, urgent investment and reform is needed in child protection so that the system can respond effectively and ensure children and young people have access to the support they need to rebuild their lives.

Finally, the voices, needs and experiences of children and young people and adult survivors of child sexual abuse must be central to shaping all responses to this abuse. It is also vital that all professionals have the training and confidence needed to be able to hear those voices and take the necessary steps to protect children and young people.

Anyone with any concerns about the welfare of a child can call the NSPCC Helpline on 0808 800 5000 or email [email protected]. Children can contact Childline on 0800 1111 or visit childline.org.uk.