News & Updates
NWG Comment: Protecting Children from harm: A critical assessment of child abuse in the family network in England (24.11.15)
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This mornings Children’s Commissioner report ‘Protecting Children from harm: A critical assessment of child abuse in the family network in England (24.11.15) has once again bought the scale of sexual abuse within the UK to the forefront of public attention.
The NWG Network has always understood the difficulties of identifying and understanding the extent of young people victimised by sexual abusers and agrees the figures released today are the tip of the iceberg.
We are all responsible for the safeguarding of our children, we all need to support the fight against abuse, ensuring we have a greater understanding of the impact sexual abuse has, physically, emotionally, mentally not only on the child but on the family, wider family and on society.
We need to ensure all professionals are undertaking awareness and preventative work, not only in order to reduce the number of victimised young people we are seeing, but also to go some way to identifying and preventing further abuse.
The NWG support the recommendation that all schools should play a key role in this work and ensure teaching and non teaching staff can identify the signs and symptoms of abuse, and are equipped with the knowledge and support to respond effectively to disclosures of abuse and exploitation, ensuring a whole school approach to child protection.
Our #SaySomething campaign http://www.stop-cse.org/saysomething/ launched in June 2015, was developed to assist schools and those working with children, and is currently being piloted in schools across the country. The campaign aims to raise awareness and educate young people to the risks and dangers associated with sexual abuse and exploitation, but more importantly help young people understand and recognise healthy and unhealthy relationships in an age appropriate way, using the tools and resources available to them through the campaign.
Training for professionals is essential before the work with young people begins to ensure professionals are equipped to support those young people who come forward or are identified.
The NWG continue to develop training and resources that assist front line professionals in their role, resources to assist young people to identify and become resilient to approaches from abusers and information for parents and families.
Our children are our future and have a right to live in an environment that is safe, allowing them to enjoy their childhood and adolescence and reach their full potential.