Today ( 17th Feb 2015) is the first anniversary of the murder of Breck Bedner in Essex. His case has been in the news recently and I had the privilege to meet with his mother Lorin last week.

 

It was the second time in the past year that I met with a mother who had lost a child due to exploitation. Julie, a colleague in the health service lost her daughter Samantha, who was trying to intervene to prevent a friend’s abuse.

 

Both mothers’ tell of their ordinary extraordinary children who were full of life and blossoming into the world. Breck was just 14 years old and Samantha 18. Both mothers’ speak with dignity and respect and of the struggle to hold their world together. For Lorin this means having to be strong and move forward for her younger children. But both also speak of the frustration of their attempts to engage the statutory services in protecting their children and their friends. If two articulate women cannot get their voices heard I worry for those who do not have the language to engage effectively. On the other hand was it that these families did not fit with our model of “at risk” and we assure ourselves that they will have the means to protect their own children, or are perceived as just overly worried mothers?

 

It is quite common for practitioners in services to tell me that Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE) is just the current focus of the media, or a current trend in their interest, “it’s moment in the limelight”. It is obvious that some resent the attention that it is getting, worried that it is detracting from other areas of child protection, and this is understandable as we are often driven by the latest high-profile court case. But of course CSE is not new and the historical cases coming forward show a long history of our failure to address the risks of older children and young people in our society.

 

I would like to think that the current “ limelight “ being shone on exploitation is bringing to light our failures of the past and that with models of grooming and exploitation becoming increasingly complex we will maintain that light into the future.

 

Samantha and Brecks’ lives shone brightly; let us keep our focus on making sure we respect their legacy by keeping their story in our mind when we seek to improve our response to young people.

 

Lorin will be speaking at our conference on March 18/19th

 

Ray McMorrow NWG

 

http://www.breckbednar.com/