Engage: Improving ourselves to keep children safe

By Amy Norris9th September 2014EngageChild Abuse, Engage, Rotherham

“The recent report on child sexual exploitation in Rotherham is upsetting in so many ways, not least for the girls and young women who were abused. As is often the way, the media is looking for someone to blame, someone to resign. Perhaps there were professionals who could have done more, but to focus on Rotherham is to ignore the fact that child sexual exploitation has been a national problem for years.

“Are the cases of Jimmy Savile and Rolf Harris not enough for society to realise that the exploitation of children is not just done by individual men, but has been accepted by all of us for far too long? By blaming individual managers, geographical regions or ethnic groups we fail to address how we in Britain do not keep children safe and put them at the heart of all we do.

“The Rotherham example highlights the systematic failures by agencies, but it also raises questions about the state of our communities. Individual families were contacting police with their worries about their daughters but where was the community support from wider family, neighbours, community groups, Churches and Mosques, for example? This is not to say that any of these are to blame either, but it does show how insular and detached we have become from each other that abuse on such a wide scale can go unnoticed or undeterred for so many years.

“Many local authorities have already improved their responses to child exploitation and have coordinated, systemic responses. As a social worker myself, I have utilised multi-agency panels set up to address organised child sexual exploitation and have found this way of working much more effective than even 5 years ago, when I felt I was fighting a losing battle having identified children and young people at risk.

“As positive as this is, I implore individuals and communities to see this recent report not as a failure by one council but as a motivation to consider how they themselves keep children in their community safe. Will you call police if you have concerns about a property or suspicious behaviour? Will you support your friends and family to provide loving and warm home environments so that children are not susceptible to the affections of others (as children in care are at high risk)? Will you get to know your neighbours so that we feel more like a cohesive community? And will you challenge the views of men (and women) in your lives who have misogynistic and sexist views?

“If we all try to improve ourselves, and not just call for one person to resign, maybe we can keep future generations of children safe.”