Child sexual exploitation in NI: - PowerPoint Presentation

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Child sexual exploitation in NI: An Introduction Dr Helen BeckettVice-Chair, BASPCAN NI BranchDeputy Director @ ‘The International Centre: Researching Child Sexual Exploitation, Violence and Trafficking’ at the University of Bedfordshirehelen.beckett@beds.ac.uk f

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Child Sexual ExploitationForm of sexual abuseUnder 18sExploitative situations, contexts and relationships where young people (or a third person or persons) receive ‘something’ as a result of performing, and/or others performing on them, sexual activitiesThose exploiting the child/young person have power over them by virtue of their age, gender, intellect, physical strength and/or economic or other resources(DCSF 2009 Safeguarding CYP from Sexual Exploitation)

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Relevant offences No offence of CSE but range of offences under Part three of Sexual Offences (NI) Order 2008: Under 13Rape and other offences against children under 13 (art 12-15) Under 16 Sexual activity with a child (art 16)Causing/inciting sexual activity (art 17)Sexual activity in front of or causing a child to watch a sexual act (art 18/19)Child sex offences committed by children or young persons (art 20)Arranging or facilitating sexual offence (art 21)Meeting a child following sexual grooming (art 22)

Under 18

Abuse of position of Trust (art 23-31)

Familial sexual offences (art 32-36)

Abuse of child through prostitution or pornography (art 37-41)

Indecent photographs of child aged 16/17 (art 42)

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“I was 12, maybe a wee bit older, and I remember I was completely blocked and I couldn’t move and my mummy run out of drink and she says to me, there was fellas in the house and she says to one of them to take me up the stairs and she got me to go with this man for a bottle of vodka for her” (young woman)Not to be reproduced without permission from the authorSlide5

“There is a young gay male, aged 19 but with learning difficulties. He’s meeting older men in their thirties/forties in gay clubs and male saunas… He’s being plied with drink to make it easier. He phoned me from a hotel this time asking me to come and collect him. He said there was money left on the side when the guy left. That in itself was quite concerning because the young fella was like ‘why’s he leaving that money?” (aftercare worker)

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“There was a guy running parties for sex. What was described to me was someone initially looking after you, taking you out, buying you clothes, looking after you, giving you lots of emotion and care. Then there were parties where other girls were there and it became a going upstairs with one person type of thing, but then it came down to being the only girl with four or five men and it became quite frightening. There was also a separate pornography side to it, and they were getting pulled into that as well” (residential unit worker)

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“She met this man outside a pub and she basically offered him a blowjob for a tenner. She took him into an alley way, performed oral sex on him, got a tenner, went to the off licence and bought four litres of cider. Her and her friend decided they wanted to come back to the area where she was from but needed to get a taxi, so again she needed money. So she went to a pub and approached two other men and offered them sex for the price of the taxi home, which she did. On the way home in the taxi she decided she wanted to keep the money she had earned from having sex with the other two so she offered the taxi driver sex for the fare” (police) Quotes taken from Beckett (2011) ‘Not a World Away’

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Forms of CSE in NIAbuse through prostitution involving third party gainOther abuse through prostitution‘Party house model’Inappropriate/sexually exploitative relationshipsInternet exploitationChild abuse imagesTrafficking for CSE (Beckett, 2011)Can be by an individual, informal networks and/or organised network of abusersCan be by adults or peers

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Who is affected?Prevalence data difficult to capture:Low levels of reporting by young peopleVariable levels of awareness & confusion around definitionInadequate intelligence gathering & information sharingInconsistent recordingWhat we know will only be the tip of the icebergMedia have reported 22 young people in police operation BUT this was never intended to be a count of CSE; it was an investigation into missing cases that found CSE to be a concern within this

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NI Research (Beckett 2011)Study conducted on behalf of Barnardo’s & funded by DHSSPSNIConducted 2009-2011 across NIParticular focus on risks for children in/missing form careMethods: risk assessment (n=1102; 71% LAC = 2/3 LAC population)case file reviews (n=29)professional interviews (n=110)interviews with young people (n=5) YLT survey (n=786)

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Children known to social servicesSocial workers identified CSE to be issue of concern for almost 1 in 7 (13%; n=147)21% females .v. 5% males (issue of identification as well as prevalence)Concerns most frequently first identified aged 12-15Overall rate of concern for LAC not much higher than non-LAC (14% .v. 11%) BUT risk varied by placement type – 40% residential; 11% at home and under 5% in foster careParticular issue for young females in residential care – 64%Concerns emerged post entry into care in 49% of LAC casesGoing missing four times more prevalent amongst CSE cases than non-CSE cases – 1 in 5 of sample had been missing overnight or longer in last year (60% of those in residential care)

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General youth population1 in 9 reported experience of an adult trying to groom them – 1 in 7 females .v. 1 in 23 malesOnline accounts for only 27% of these cases – rest approached in community1 in 15 said they had been given alcohol/drugs and taken advantage of sexually when under influence – perpetrated by peers in 70% cases1 in 20 had been offered something in return for sexual activityVast majority of cases happened under legal age of consentMost did not tell anyone (Beckett and Schubotz 2013)

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Where are we now & where do we go?Increased attention & strategic developments:Police operationAnnounced independent review and review by SBNISBNI Strategic Partnership Group on CSEPHA Knowledge Transfer SchemeOpportunity to build on local knowledge base and learn from experiences elsewhere to ensure comprehensive response within NI:Assume existence unless proven otherwiseKeep young people at the centre & recognise safeguarding needs of adolescentsInter-agency responsePrevention, protection and prosecution

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