Report: Newcastle Safeguarding Adult & Children Board’s – Joint Serious Case Review (Sexual Exploitation)

The Newcastle Safeguarding Adults Board (NSAB) and the Newcastle Safeguarding Children Board (NSCB) have published a Joint Serious Case review to consider and learn from sexual exploitation involving children and young adults in Newcastle. The Joint Serious Case Review fulfills the NSAB’s duty under Section 44 of the Care Act (2014) to undertake Safeguarding Adults Reviews.

The NSAB and NSCB decided to undertake the review in 2015 when there was increased awareness of the prevalence of sexual exploitation that had been occurring in the Newcastle area.

The review has been undertaken by an Independent Review Team with experience in safeguarding adults and children from police, health, education and social work perspectives.

The report contains a number of local and national recommendations. Some of the key learning points which have already been carefully considered include: the complex nature of sexual exploitation; the extreme and long lasting impact it has on victims; that sexual exploitation happens to adults as well as children; and difficulties in identifying and preventing exploitation.

Working with victims has reinforced the importance of intense and long-term support required to gain their trust and also to help them understand their experience and in doing so enable them to talk about this. The primary aim being to support and protect victims from further exploitation and to help them so far as possible to rebuild positive lives.

• Joint Serious Case Review report (pdf, 1.65mb)
• Statement from NSAB and NSCB (pdf, 197kb)
• Help and support for Victims of Sexual Exploitation

_{Picture (c) Tom Wilkinson / PA Wire.}