Yesterday I attended this launch of Stop it Now Research at Portcullis House, Westminster. The panel and presentations  from across Germany, Netherlands and the UK made for a rich day of discussion and debate.

Two clear messages permeated the day-

We cannot arrest our way out of this problem.

Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation is a Public Health issue.

The public discourse around service around risk of offending and services to offenders are more present in Germany and the Netherlands. The Dunkerfelt Project, providing proactive strategies to prevent child sexual abuse and use of online images is well established and in the public domain in Germany. I will be providing more information to the network on their work in due course. There are striking differences in the Professional and Civilian law around information sharing between the Dutch and English systems, which affect the nature of the discourse between the client and the professional respondent.

The link below will introduce you to some of the findings but a major challenge has been the lack of recourse meaning that the number of calls that are missed far outweighs those that can be answered, and real opportunities to prevent abuse from taking place are lost.

http://www.stopitnow.org.uk/files/051414_child_sexual_abuse_helpline_missing_four_times_the_number_of_calls_its_taking1.pdf

 Key points drawn from the research include:

• A confidential helpline can provide cost effective, quality information that prompts behaviour change in adults and helps to protect children.
• The Stop it Now! Helpline helps protect children from sexual abuse by helping adults with sexual thoughts, feelings or behaviour towards children to understand and manage their behaviour, and by assisting all callers to take action that protects children and young people from harm.
• Two thirds of potential offenders who completed the online questionnaire had changed their behaviour to reduce the risk of committing an offence following their contact with the helpline.
• Further investment in capacity on the helpline is required as demand currently exceeds capacity to take calls and prospective users may be dissuaded from calling again. An average of 450-520 calls are taken a month with 2,199 being ‘missed’ as the line is busy
• ‘Lack of awareness’ was identified as a key barrier to people accessing the Helpline at the earliest opportunity and additional resources are required to raise awareness of the Helpline.
• The Helpline service should be combined with prevention education programmes for children and young people; awareness raising for parents/carers and other adults on how to protect children and recognise the signs of abuse; and efforts to promote the safe use of the internetThe Helpline has received 31,314 contacts from 14,524 people in ten years.

Ray Mc Morrow, NWG