The scale of child sexual exploitation (CSE) cases up and down the country is now well documented and deeply shocking.
We are all familiar with the grooming scandals of largely white vulnerable girls by gangs of mainly Asian men.
Speaking out for the first time takes great courage and it can be difficult to know where to start.
Here are 5 things which might offer you assistance and encouragement if you are considering taking this step in 2019:
Editor's note: This post was originally written in 2017 and has since been refreshed for relevance and accuracy.
The age of consent for sex
In England and Wales the age of sexual consent is 16 for both men and women. The age of consent is the same regardless of the gender or sexual orientation of a person and whether the sexual activity is between people of the same or different gender.
In 2017, eight care workers were charged after a police investigation into historical child abuse at a children’s home in Coventry.
These men were accused of a total of 29 offences (which included counts of child cruelty, indecent assaults and one rape of a child) against 15 children whilst working at Wisteria Lodge between 1981-1997.
In the wake of Cliff Richard’s successful court appeal against the BBC, it is right to revisit how victims of sexual abuse can be protected in law from having their identities revealed. There has been much debate over the years on press freedom to report on cases which are thought to be of public interest and the rights of the parties involved in those legal cases.
A case in which we represented a victim of abuse in a compensation claim, which later proceeded to the criminal trial of their abuser illustrates the valuable and important role a Registered Intermediary can have in the justice process.
The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) was set up by the then Home Secretary, Theresa May, after apparent institutional failures surrounding non-recent child sexual abuse.
The most common and significant effect of childhood sexual abuse is psychological rather than physical harm.
When a child suffers sexual abuse and has not been able to disclose it for various reasons they can go into adulthood with mental health difficulties, simply because it has not been possible for them to process the traumatic events that have happened to them.
It is common knowledge that the English legal system is not overly sympathetic to adults seeking justice for childhood sexual abuse in the civil courts. The law in England and Wales is such that time to bring a civil compensation claim expires on the 21st birthday of anyone who was sexually abused as a child.
The Church of England is currently suffering the discomfort of a public spotlight of IICSA – the largest public inquiry ever undertaken in the UK. The C of E is not alone in its scrutiny, the Roman Catholic Church having already been the subject of IICSA, together with several other institutions including local authority children’s homes.
