New Report Says Thousands of Child Sex Abuse Cases Are Missed

A new report by the Children's Commissioner says that the majority of child sexual abuse is carried out by family and friends and up to 85% goes unreported.

Around 50,000 cases were recorded between April 2012 to March 2014 but the report suggests that the actual number is nearer to 450,000.

Much attention has been focused on child abuse in institutions but most happens within families or their trusted circles, the report said.

The government said it was looking at how authorities dealt with abuse.

The report found:

• Two-thirds of child sexual abuse took place within the family environment or the close circle around it
• 75% of victims were girls
• Abuse was most likely to have occurred at about the age of nine
• Victims often did not speak out until adolescence or later, when they recognised what had happened
• Even if a child did tell someone, often the abuse did not stop

 Children's commissioner Anne Longfield said recent attention and investigations had focused on the abuse children suffered in institutions or by groups of perpetrators.

"We must now wake up to and urgently address the most common form of child sexual abuse - that which takes place behind the front door within families or their trusted circles," she said.

She called for urgent action from government to prevent abuse, and for more training to help teachers, social services, police and other professionals identify abuse early on.

"There are always signs. Mental health problems, children can become withdrawn or show overly sexualised behaviour. If you know the child it will be obvious to see changes in their behaviour," she said.

Findings of Annual Bullying Survey 2015 Announced

Charity Ditch the Label have announced the findings of their Annual Bullying Survey foir 2015.

The survey of 3,600 young people in the UK between the ages of 13-18 revealed that:

• 51% of young people have been bullied because of their appearance
• 26% of young people have been bullied because of their weight
• 13% of teens have been bullied by a teacher

Commenting on the findings from Ditch the Label's report, Sue Minto Head of ChildLine said:

"These figures are shocking and correlate with what we are hearing from young people here at ChildLine. In 2013/2014 we held over 5,000 counselling sessions with young people who spoke about body image issues - the majority of which took place with girls.

"Young people told us that bullying, name-calling and being victimised about weight often led to them developing body image issues – and sadly they strongly believed that by changing their body it would result in them being socially accepted."

You can read more about Ditch the Label's Annual Bullying Survey here: http://www.ditchthelabel.org/annual-bullying-survey-2015/

Evaluation of Barnardo's Families & Communities Against Child Sexual Exploitation Programme

The University of Bedfordshire's International Centre has published a research report "Families and Communities Against Child Sexual Exploitation".

The report found that direct work with parents and carers, as well as with children at risk of sexual exploitation, can reduce the risk of harm to a child and improve relationships at home. Community outreach and engagement is vital when raising awareness, so that the information provided and approach used by those preventing and tackling child sexual exploitation (CSE) reflects the communities they serve.

The report is free to downloadload here: Publications and other resources.

More Pupils Have Mental Health Issues Say School Staff

A report by the BBC says that a survey of school teachers suggests that more pupils have mental health issues than two years ago.

More than one in six said they believed at least a quarter of students in their school or college were affected by mental health problems.

Almost 90% said staff have had to provide more support for these pupils over the past two years, while 43% said they had been finding it harder to access services for pupils with mental illness.

One head of department at a Reading secondary school said local Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services were "completely overwhelmed". 

You can read more about this story here.

Parents Rarely Spot Child Obesity Study Warns

Doctors have warned that parents hardly ever spot obesity in their children, resulting in damaging consequences for their health.

In a study of 2,976 families in the UK, only four parents thought their child was very overweight. Medical assessments put the figure at 369.

The researchers, writing in the British Journal of General Practice, said obesity had become the new normal in society. Experts said the study showed the "enormity" of the obesity epidemic.

The team, from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and the UCL Institute of Child Health, gave questionnaires to nearly 3,000 families asking if their child was obese, overweight, underweight or a healthy weight.

The results showed that nearly a third, 31%, of parents underestimated the weight of their child.

An accurate diagnosis kicked in only at the very high end of the scales.

The main explanation for parents not identifying their child's weight problem is that society as a whole has become so fat we have collectively lost our sense of a healthy weight.

You can read more about this story on the BBC News Website here.

New Report Experiences of Criminal Justice For Children & Young People Affected By Sexual Exploitation

The Institute of Applied Social Research at the University of Bedfordshire has published a new research report Making Justice Work : Experiences of Criminal Justice for Children & Young People Affected by Sexual Exploitation as Victims and Witnesses.

The report is a one year participatory pilot research project, carried out by The International Centre: Researching Child Sexual Exploitation, Violence and Trafficking at The University of Bedfordshire. The research explored young people’s experiences of the criminal justice system in child sexual exploitation (CSE) cases, and the ways in which these could be improved.

Deaf And Disabled Children Talking About Child Protection

The NSPCC has published a new report: Deaf and Disabled Children Talking About Child Protection: Research into Children's Experiences of the Child Protection System

The report commissioned from the University of Edinburgh / NSPCC Child Protection Research Centre invstigates deaf and disabled children's experiences of the child protection system.

It highlights findings from in-depth interviews with 10 deaf and disabled people who had been abused during childhood. It looks at how they sought help, the barriers they faced and how professionals and organisations recognised and responded to the abuse.


It includes recommendations for policy makers and commissioners, agencies working with deaf and disabled children, and parents and carers.

Children In Care Get "A Raw Deal" Say MPs In New Report

Children in care "get a raw deal" and the government is not doing enough to help them, MPs have said in a new report.

The report by the Commons Public Accounts Committee "Children in Care" says that in particular, the Department of Education shows "alarming reluctance to play an active role" in improving the lot of these children.

The report comes a day after Ofsted found child social care inadequate or requiring improvement in three quarters of the English local authorities it inspected last year, with services under "intense pressure".

The report says that 62% of children in care have suffered abuse and neglect but "too many still do not get the right placement first time, too many are moved too often, and too few are placed close to their homes."

In 2012-13 more than a third of children in care had more than one placement during the year, while a third of children in residential care and 14% of fostered children were placed more than 20 miles from home, it found.

The MPs say such instability can have a long term impact on emotional and physical health, social development, education and future employment prospects. They describe the gap in educational attainment between children in care and their peers as "shockingly wide".

The report urges the Department of Education to take an interest in the outcomes of its initiatives, evaluate progress and share successful practice.

It also urges the setting up of a national database of missing children, arguing that without such a register it is harder to find children who go missing from care, including victims of sex exploitation.

MPs also want the DfE to set out how it will attract more high-quality people into social work, to allow Ofsted to inspect council children's services more frequently and involve the watchdog in improvements between inspections.

Rights of Trafficked Children Recognised

The welfare of trafficked children has taken a giant step forward, with the passing of the Modern Slavery Bill. The Bill will receive Royal Assent soon.

The research team from the University of Bedfordshire has seen its work play a key role in shaping the new legislation. Clause 48 of the Bill defines the role of independent specialist advocates who will make sure trafficked children’s rights are respected by public authorities.

In July 2014, the research team at the University was appointed by the Home Office to independently evaluate a Child Trafficking Advocate (CTA) trial run by the children’s charity Barnardo’s.

The team from Bedfordshire is evaluating Barnardo’s work to establish what difference the specialist advocate scheme makes for trafficked children, compared to the existing provision, run by local authorities.

Professor of Child Welfare, Ravi Kohli, who leads the team from the University said: “The University is at the cutting edge of research in enhancing the protection of trafficked children. We are proud to be working with the UK Government and Barnardo’s in doing all we can to make sure that these children are safe.”

The team’s interim evaluation findings are based on the first four and a half months of the trial in which 59 children were allocated to the child trafficking advocates trial. The findings focus on the process of early implementation of the trial and early lessons learned about the role of advocates. So far, there is good evidence of advocates safeguarding children’s rights and meeting their needs.

The final evaluation report will be published after the trial ends in September and will draw on a wider range of data.

New Report Says Too Many Children Still At Risk Of Child Abuse

A new report by the Office of the Children's Commissioner says that too many children in England are still "slipping through the net" and remain at risk of sexual abuse.

The report: If it's not better; it's not the end - Inquiry into Child Sexual Exploitation in Gangs and Groups - one year on found there had been "considerable" progress in some areas of tackling child exploitation.

But "at the front line much work is still needed," said Deputy Commissioner Sue Berelowitz, who headed the inquiry.

The OCC's follow-up report has raised concerns about the level of progress in some areas, along with the continued "under-identification" of victims.

It said it was "worrying" that the inquiry's recommendation to make sex education a statutory part of the curriculum had not been adopted by the government.

The report also found "vastly different" reported rates of child sexual exploitation in different parts of England.

More Children Go Missing From Foster Carers

Ofsted statistics show that there was a large increase in numbers of children going missing from foster care.

Children went missing from foster care on 13,305 occasions in 2013-14 - a 36% rise on the previous year.
Nearly six out of 10 missing cases were from independent fostering agencies, rather than a local authority, which have just under a third of placements.

According to the Ofsted statistics, during the year 2013-14, 4,245 children and young people were reported to have gone missing from foster care - 900 more than in the previous year.

Contact with family or friends was the reason given in nearly half (6,596) the cases. And most of them went missing for less than a day.

However, 528 of these children who did go missing were deemed to be at risk of sexual exploitation, and 431 of the cases were said to be linked to substance misuse.

There was also a big increase last year in foster placements breaking down - up 21% on the previous year to 5,240. Although there has been a change in the way these are counted.

New Report Says It's "Shocking" That Nobody Know The Number Of Children Who Fall Victim To Crime Each Year

A report by Victim Support and the University of Bedfordshire for the All Party Parliamentary Group on Victims and Witnesses of Crime has found that some young people see crimes such as robbery, theft and assault as a normal part of growing up and do not even see themselves as victims.

Matthew Reed, Chief Executive of The Children’s Society, said: 'It’s shocking that nobody knows how many children fall victim to crime every year. Understanding the scale of the problem is an essential first step to tackling it.

'Part of the challenge, as we know through our direct work with children, is how difficult it is for young people - particularly those who have been groomed or sexually exploited - to tell someone about abuse they experienced.

'When children are brave enough to come forward, too often the professionals who should be protecting them let them down, by failing to believe them or by dismissing them as troublesome. Overall professionals must get better at identifying children who may be victims, supporting them when they disclose abuse and helping them after they have come forward. And schools need to teach children about healthy relationships and consent, so young people are better able to recognise abuse and know where to turn.'

Teenage Runaways Lack Safe Places To Go

Research suggests that only a tiny fraction of the 100,000 UK under 16s who run away yearly are given emergency shelter by councils.

Nearly two-thirds of the 210 English, Welsh and Scottish councils who responded to the Railway Children charity survey offered no under-16s accommodation in the past year. The research found just 157 children were offered this sort of support.

Council leaders acknowledged a shortage of emergency accommodation. However, only about half the local authorities kept figures on how many times such emergency accommodation was used, the study said.

The research was prompted by growing concern about runaway children. It highlighted how all refuges but one for young children had closed by this year.

"Inconsistent use of local authority emergency accommodation was leaving young people without a safe place at the time they need it most," it said.

More on this story and the full report is available from the Railway Children Charity here.

On TV Tonight: Baby P, the Untold Story

Tonight (27th October 2014) on BBC 1 at 8.30 pm there will be a documentary entitled Baby P: the Untold Story.

The 90 minute film hears from those directly involved in the investigation into the death of Baby P in 2007.

Film-maker Henry Singer's documentary detailing the timeline of events leading to the death of 17-month-old Peter Connelly at the hands of his mother, her boyfriend and her boyfriend's brother in August 2007, and considering its aftermath. The programme examines how some powerful institutions evaded the spotlight, while public attention was focused on the involvement of social workers in the infant's home area of Haringey, north London. Among the interviewees featured in the film are social workers Gillie Christou and Maria Ward, then-Children's Secretary Ed Balls MP and the husband of the last medical practitioner to see Peter before he died.

Child Poverty Set To Rise Says Social Mobility Commission

The UK risks becoming a "permanently divided" society unless "radical new approaches" are taken by the next government, a report suggests.

The Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission also claims the target to reduce child poverty by half by 2020 will not be met.

Chairman Alan Milburn said the three largest Westminster parties were being "less than frank" on the issue.

He said housing costs and youth unemployment needed to be tackled.

Mr Milburn, a former Labour minister, said the current government had "discredited existing child poverty targets and failed to put in place new ones", creating an "unholy mess".

The existing targets were put in place in 2010 by the last Labour government. Currently, a child is classed as being in relative poverty if his or her family income is less than 60% of median earnings.

According to the commission's report "absolute child poverty increased by 300,000 between 2010-11 and 2012-13" and "independent experts expect child poverty to increase significantly over the next few years". It also says that "working poverty after housing costs is rising".

Emotional Needs of Children Leaving Care are Unmet says new Study

A study by the charity Action for Children says that the emotional needs of children who have been in care are not being well looked after.

The small but in-depth study by Action for Children called Too Much Too Young is based on in-depth work with 31 care leavers and 12 professionals working with such children in England and Wales.

It says: "Most young people who have been in care continue to cope with the lasting impact of a traumatic childhood.They can suffer from depression and anxiety, on top of dealing with the challenges of living on their own for the the first time."

The report argues that leaving care is not the same as leaving home, as care leavers rarely have the stability or support networks that most teenagers take for granted. It says that government policy has focused on the quality and location of accommodation that youngsters move into when they leave care and the practical support they are offered.But it warns: "Emotional wellbeing should be our starting point. Without it, practical support is not enough for the most vulnerable young people. Poor emotional health permeated young peoples' stories. Essential support disappears rapidly after those with complex needs and disabilities leave care".

New Ofsted Report Says The Extent Of Child Neglect Is "Not Understood"

A new report by Ofsted claims that local authorities are not doing enoguh to protect children from neglect.

The report Child Neglect: The Scandal That Never Breaks states that figures suggest that most children know another child suffering from neglect. The Ofsted inspectors found "inconsistent approaches" to assessing neglect, and conclude that children are being left for too long in harmful situations in nearly half of the long-term cases they examined.

The report also recommends that social work training is improved to increase professional understanding of the impact of neglect on children's lives.

You can read more about this report and its findings on the BBC News website here.

New Website Launched For Children With Mental Health Issues

The Department of Health has funded a new website MindEd to raise awareness of children with mental health issues.

Experts have warned that thousands of children and young people may be "slipping through the net" because adults do not recognse the warning signs of mental health problems.

A surveyof 21,000 adults backed by groups including the Royal College of Paeditrics and Child Health revealed that a third were unsure of signs of depression in children.

More than 850,000 children in the UK have a mental health problem. Possible warning signs include:

• Loss of appetite / weight loss
• Waking early
• Excessive boredom
• Poor concentration

You can read more on this story on the BBC News website here.

Children's Commissioner's Report Says Child-On-Child Abuse Is Shocking

An official report by the Office of the Children's Commissioner for England says that "shocking" sexual violence is being carried out by children against other children. The report says that the perpetrators could be 12 or 13, and rape is seen as "normal and inevitable" in some areas, especially among gangs. It also claims that bullying and sexist attitudes exist across the whole country.

The Research conducted by the University of Bedfordshire into sexual violence in gangs (It's wrong but you get used to it) suggested two-thirds of young people questioned (65%) knew of young women who had been pressurised or coerced into sexual activity. 


The report is the result of a two-year inquiry by the children's commissioner into child exploitation and gangs. It is being published alongside research on young people's understanding of consent to sex, and a study on the pressures on young people who have been raised in gang-affected neighbourhoods. It says legislation is there to protect children but agencies from the police to social services need to become far better at spotting children at risk and providing them with the necessary protection.

New Report Says Child Obesity In Wales Is The Highest In The UK

Yet more news on child obesity.

A report on childhood obesity published by the National Assembly for Wales in July said the rates of childhood obesity in Wales are the highest in the UK, with about 35% of children aged under 16 being overweight or obese in 2011.

During one week in July, nearly 170 children aged between 11 and 15 attended sessions in Wales run by a weight-loss club. Public Health Wales figures showed over 28% of five-year-olds are overweight, with 12.5% of children obese.

The National Obesity Forum said healthy eating needs to be taught earlier.