Child victims 'failed by courts'

14 June 2011 Last updated at 23:59 GMT Children found trials a traumatic experience, Barnardo's said A children's charity says child victims of sexual exploitation have been "failed by the system" because convictions are so hard to achieve.

Official figures show there were 89 child sexual exploitation convictions in England and Wales in 2009.

But Barnardo's says it is aware of 2,756 child victims of offences such as grooming and trafficking.

The government said a plan for police and other agencies on how to better tackle the problem is to be published.

According to Barnardo's, sexual exploitation cases were often dropped because of insufficient evidence, and there was an over-reliance on the victims as witnesses.

Barnardo's chief executive Anne Marie Carrie said the children were being let down "terribly".

"They are being failed twice; once by the failure to prevent them becoming victims in the first place and again by the failure to punish their abusers and secure justice.

"We need to see drastic changes to make sure the abusers who control such vulnerable children for sex and personal gain are brought to book."

Continue reading the main story

When children do have the courage to take the stand, we need to make sure that they have the support that they deserve.”

End Quote Anne Marie Carrie Barnardo's chief executive The term child sexual exploitation covers a range of activity.

It also includes arranging a child sexual offence, meeting a child following grooming, paying for the sexual services of a child and inciting child prostitution or pornography.

Mrs Carrie said trials could be "traumatic and painful experiences for children".

"And when children do have the courage to take the stand, we need to make sure that they have the support that they deserve the whole way through the process."

The charity intends to launch a study to assess the role of the local safeguarding children's boards (LSCB) in securing prosecutions against perpetrators of child sexual exploitation.

LSCBs are statutory bodies responsible for protecting children and young people from significant harm and for promoting their welfare.

Statistics show that for prosecutions brought under other sections of the Sexual Offences Act in 2009, 41% resulted in convictions for rape of a child under 13, and 37% for sexual assault of a child under 13, and a total of 501 people were found guilty.

The Ministry of Justice said overall more than 1,500 people were convicted of sexual offences against children in 2009.

A spokesperson said: "We are determined to support children within the justice system. They are only required to give evidence where absolutely necessary, and measures taken to protect them include children giving evidence by video-link, or being supported by an intermediary in court."

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Sponsored child

10 June 2011 Last updated at 01:05 GMT By Emily Buchanan BBC News, in Ghana Sponsoring a child in the developing world is a popular form of charitable giving. But what do the children themselves make of the system?

When Priscilla was a child, a donor many thousands of miles from her Ghanaian village helped pay for her schooling.

For years she exchanged letters with her British benefactor. Now she is 20, the charity has stopped the sponsorship and the relationship.

"Last year I wrote to them saying goodbye and thanked them for taking care of me up to this day," says Priscilla, an accountancy student. "When I was writing, I was full of tears. Tears were coming from my eyes."

Sponsor-a-child arrangements throw up emotional highs and lows for the children, something many donors are unaware of.

Charities like World Vision and Plan International use sponsor-a-child models to raise funds

Priscilla's sponsorship was arranged through World Vision. The charity has boosted the fortunes of Dangme West, which used to be one of the most deprived areas in greater Accra, the capital of Ghana.

Youngsters such as Priscilla are sponsored for up to 15 years. They often receive letters and gifts, so many feel a close bond with their sponsor.

Augustina, 14, who hopes to become a doctor, says her sponsor has sent her many things - shoes, bags, crayons, books. She hopes her sponsor loves her, and wants to visit her in England.

Some even want their sponsors' e-mail addresses, so they can carry on their correspondence into adulthood. But charities do not encourage this, for fear of dependency.

It's an arrangement that can bring disappointment, as well as money. Abraham tells me he hasn't heard from his sponsor for eight years, and he doesn't know why.

More than eight million children around the world are sponsored by Western benefactors. This takes the form of regular donations to a charity, which links the sponsor with a deprived child. The charity also oversees the exchange of letters, and also provides updates on the child's progress.

It is a form of aid that's popular with donors, being high on the feel-good factor, and lucrative for charities as a source of long-term funding. About $3bn (?1.8bn) is channelled towards the poorest children in this way every year.

Continue reading the main story

Unmet expectations and disappointment for children poses a serious ethical concern”

End Quote Sussex University report on some sponsor-a-child schemes There are two approaches to child sponsorship. The oldest is still used by the evangelical Christian organisation, Compassion.

In the run-down industrial area of Kpone-on-Sea near Accra, sponsors' regular donations help more than 200 children with free schooling, healthcare and extra Saturday classes in life skills such as basic sanitation and computers.

Sponsors are encouraged to write, and often have a very personal link with their child, even to the degree of being their spiritual mentor.

"I think of them as close relatives," says Mary, 12. She thinks it's great that someone in another country has seen her picture and chosen to be her friend.

When she feels lonely, she looks through the letters and pictures from the family that sponsors her.

Compassion is proud of its Christian ethos. The sponsored children are chosen by local churches, but the charity says families of any faith can benefit.

We visit a Muslim family living in a dark, cramped, one-room house. They hope sponsorship will help their 11-year old son eventually get a good job so they can escape poverty.

Does he mind that this means he is getting a Christian education?

"I feel that Allah and God are the same, and the Bible and the Koran, too, are the same," he says. His mother agrees.

But is it fair?

Some donors make financial gifts in addition to their sponsorship payments.

Jennifer, in pink, and family outside their new home

Another family we visit has recently moved to a new settlement thanks to generous extra cheques from a donor in the US.

Twelve-year-old Jennifer shows off her new concrete house. "I am surprised that somebody so far away that I don't even know loves me this way," she says.

While Compassion's sponsored children have effectively won the lottery, some aid experts argue that this approach is unfair and divisive.

So many big charities now allocate sponsors' money to community development projects instead of focusing it on individual children.

This is the kind of scheme World Vision operates for Priscilla and others in Dangme West.

Plan International also uses the community development approach. A few years ago they commissioned a study from Sussex University into the impact of their operations.

Its 2008 report found there was "anxiety, jealousy and disappointment among those children and families who receive no letters or gifts".

And, notwithstanding the success stories, "the much larger scale of unmet expectations and emotional disappointment for children poses a serious ethical concern and challenge".

A classroom in Odumase

Plan has since tried to manage children's expectations. It is abolishing gifts, and no longer requires children to write unless the sponsor writes to them.

When Plan arrived in the village of Odumase, west of Accra, 17 years ago, there was no school building, no clean drinking water nor sanitation. The village has benefited hugely from sponsorship funds. And aside from letters, there is no difference between what sponsored and unsponsored children receive.

We watch as a big brown envelope is delivered to one of the sponsored children, 13-year-old Ebenezer. It is the third piece of correspondence he has received in seven years, and contains a postcard and a few words of greeting.

Ebenezer appears crestfallen. Although happy to get the postcard, Ebenezer feels the lack of gifts means his sponsor doesn't care about him, and that makes him sad.

But Eric and Naomi, the teenage helpers, enthusiastically begin to help him draft a reply. He wants to ask for a football and a skipping rope, but that, he is told, is not allowed.

This raises the question - without the direct financial link and the gifts, and if donors aren't frequent writers, what is left of the sponsorship relationship? And should it be abandoned altogether?

Naomi and Eric help Ebenezer write to his sponsor

Plan UK's chief executive, Marie Staunton, argues that sponsorship is still an intrinsic part of the development process, helping with education and the necessary reporting back to head office on how children are faring. It also gives leadership experience to the teenagers who help with the process.

"I don't think the sponsorship we do is diluted at all. What sponsors want is long-term changes in children's lives. Because of sponsorship, we are focused on children, children have a say. People like Eric and Naomi have had years of communicating to people outside their village."

The charities argue it's a way to raise money that would not otherwise be there for development. Ultimately, though, it will be for donors to decide the future of child sponsorship.

A Child to Sponsor is broadcast on BBC Radio 4 at 1100 BST on Friday, 10 June 2011.

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Web fight on child sexualisation

6 June 2011 Last updated at 09:57 GMT Padded bras and other adult clothing aimed at young girls is a concern for some parents Parents will be able to highlight examples of child sexualisation on a new website, the prime minister has said.

The measure is among the proposals in a review on the commercialisation and sexualisation of children, from Mothers' Union boss Reg Bailey.

David Cameron also backed Mr Bailey's calls to make blocking web and mobile-phone pornography easier.

And he plans to hold a summit on progress on the issues, in October.

Retailers, advertisers, broadcasters, magazine editors, video games and music industry chiefs and regulators will be summoned to the event.

Under the changes proposed by Mr Bailey's review, steamy pop videos would be restricted to older teenagers and later television slots and magazines featuring sexualised images covered up on shelves.

'Stricter code'

And all new home internet services, laptops or mobile phones would have the option to ban adult material.

Parents would also be given more say in the television watershed guidelines.

The review coincides with stricter "good practice" guidance for shops selling children's clothing.

Mr Cameron said the report was a "giant step forward for protecting childhood and making Britain more family friendly".

"As you say, we should not try and wrap children up in cotton wool or simply throw our hands up and accept the world as it is.

"Instead, we should look to put 'the brakes on an unthinking drift towards ever greater commercialisation and sexualisation'."

Mr Cameron said many of the recommendations were for business and regulators to follow up, which was "consistent" with his government's approach.

He added the plan for a single, user-friendly website that "sets out simply and clearly what parents can do if they feel a programme, advertisement, product or service is inappropriate for their children" would be easy to implement.

Mr Bailey describes the plethora of explicit adverts, videos and television programmes as a "wallpaper of sexual images that surround children".

He says parents are worried about "the increasingly sexualised culture we live in".

Lace lingerie

He says they need more support to protect their children and "help them deal with the pressure this brings".

Continue reading the main story

It is not government's role to interfere in family life, but parents often tell me that they would like more support”

End Quote Sarah Teather Children's Minister Mr Bailey said parents did not want more legislation, they just wanted their jobs as parents to be made slightly easier.

He told the BBC: "What they really feel is they want to have the responsibility of being parents left to them but also the barriers that sometimes make parenting difficult taken away from them."

Controversial TV such as the 2010 X Factor final, which raised eyebrows with its raunchy performances from Rihanna and Christina Aguilera, complied with the broadcasting code, he pointed out.

The problem therefore lay with the code itself, he suggested.

In response to demands for restrictions on inappropriate children's clothing - including lace lingerie and push-up bras - the British Retail Consortium launched stricter guidelines [PDF 2.9MB].

The British Retail Consortium's director of public affairs, Jane Bevis, said the guidelines provided "extra reassurance for parents that these companies are just as concerned as they are about what their children wear".

Nine stores - Asda, Debenhams, Argos, John Lewis, Next, Marks & Spencer, Peacocks, Sainsbury's and Tesco - have signed up, with others being urged to participate.

Children's Minister Sarah Teather said: "It is not government's role to interfere in family life, but parents often tell me that they would like more support so that they can navigate the rapidly-changing technological and commercial world.

"Reg's review shows the way for business and government to give them this support."

Parent responsibility

Culture minister Ed Vaizey said: "We know that many parents are concerned that their children could be exposed to content that seems too adult, be it online, on TV, through adverts or in music videos.

"I welcome the collaborative way that regulators and industry have engaged with Reg Bailey.

"For our part, we are committed to consulting on whether age ratings on music videos would provide effective protection for children."

England's children's commissioner Maggie Atkinson also welcomed the report.

She said children understood the influence of commercialisation and "recognised they were under pressure to own material goods".

Director of the children's charity Kidscape, Claude Knights, said that parents also needed to take some responsibility.

"Why are these items being produced? Why are parents buying? A lot of it, really, is about education," he said.

David Thorp, director of research and information, The Chartered Institute of Marketing said: "An increased industry-parental dialogue as recommended in the review will give parents a positive increase in control and, in turn, the industry an invaluable insight to listen and respond in a measured way."

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Child protection

10 May 2011 Last updated at 09:17 GMT By Alison Holt Social Affairs Correspondent, BBC News It is not possible to prevent every tragedy, says report author Professor Munro Professor Munro's report on child protection was written in what might be described as the calm after the storm.

The storm was the outcry that followed the tragic death of Baby Peter. It has left the social work profession, in particular, feeling battered and misunderstood, at the same time as they are dealing with an increasing number of cases.

When the brutal details of what happened to 17-month-old Peter Connelly made headlines, the immediate reaction was to point the finger of blame at the professionals who allowed him to return to an abusive home.

They included doctors and police, but social workers bore the force of anger.

Cultural change

The report argues that knee-jerk responses to past tragedies have led to a defensive child protection system that tries to prevent mistakes by setting performance indicators and procedures for what needs to happen.

There's little doubt it was well intentioned, but somewhere along the line, the focus on the child who needs help has been lost.

The Conservatives promised an inquiry into child protection as part of their response to the Baby Peter case more than two years ago. When the coalition came to power last year it got underway.

By then there was less heat, more light.

Some of the problems facing the social work profession in particular had become clear - too much time taken up with form filling, a shortage of front-line staff and increasing caseloads.

Prof Munro wants social workers to spend more time with children

Professor Munro, already a respected child protection expert based at the London School of Economics, has tried to carry people with her by getting views at all stages in the review, listening to children as well as to the professionals.

She emphasises that child protection will always be a complex, difficult job and that it is not possible to prevent every tragedy.

Instead she believes problems need to be spotted early and then learnt from.

It is a cultural change that will take time and that relies on the expertise of those on the front-line.

The report says the current career structure moves the most experienced staff into management away from the front-line.

Others have moved out of child protection because of stress and staff shortages. Some have left complaining they spend more time at the computer filling in forms, than they do with families.

Tough decisions

Professor Munro is hoping her reforms will encourage some of them to bring their experience and expertise back into child protection.

Many of the child protection professionals I have spoken to welcome this re-balancing of the system, but they are worried by the context in which is is happening.

Local authorities are strapped for cash. They are making tough decisions about where to put the money they do have.

There is re-organisation in the health service, change in the education system and the economic situation is putting families under more pressure.

It all raises the stakes and makes it that bit harder to reach the most vulnerable children and give them the help and protection they need.

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Child protection shake-up urged

10 May 2011 Last updated at 06:39 GMT By Hannah Richardson BBC News education and family reporter Eileen Munro said the focus on targets "are becoming obstacles on people keeping a clear eye on children"

Front-line social workers should regain the freedom to decide what is best for children in a shake up of England's child protection system, an official review says.

The review, by social policy expert Professor Eileen Munro, calls for targets and red tape to be scrapped.

Developing social workers' expertise will enable more children to stay with their families, she adds.

The government is investing ?80m implementing the reforms this year.

Education Secretary Michael Gove asked Prof Munro to review the child protection system in England, focussing on whether bureaucracy and targets have been getting in the way of good practice.

In her report, the expert from the London School of Economics, says: "Helping children is a human process. When the bureaucratic aspects of work become too dominant, the heart of the work is lost."

'Significant savings'

She argues that the system has become preoccupied by individuals "doing things right" rather than "doing the right thing".

Continue reading the main story Mark Easton Home Editor, BBC News

When the government asked Eileen Munro to review child protection procedures, her terms of reference contained a paradox.

On the one hand ministers said they wanted social workers to be free from unnecessary bureaucracy and regulation - to make decisions based on their professional judgment, not simply following procedures.

On the other, they said they wanted social workers to be clear about their responsibilities and to be accountable - lessons must be learned. Errors exposed. Names named. While the former is about the system being hands-off, the second requires it to be hands on.

Of course, it is not a simple either/or. There is a balance to be found between a tick-box approach that blinds professionals to the subtleties of individual cases and a laissez-faire model that sees vulnerable children slipping tragically through the net.

Professor Munro reflects this tension when she points out that timescales for assessing children at risk were introduced because of legitimate concerns about "drift". But now, she claims there's "an over-preoccupation" with such targets.

And she concludes this attitude has meant that learning from professional experience has been limited.

She recommends a chief social worker - similar to a chief medical officer - should be appointed to report directly to government and liaise with the profession.

Prof Munro's report sets out how the system can move from one that has become too bureaucratic and focussed on compliance to one that values and develops professional expertise.

She says centrally-prescribed time scales for formal procedures, such as social work assessments, should be scrapped.

Her report also calls on the government to revise social worker statutory guidance - said to be 55 times longer than that issued nearly 40 years ago.

The amount of regulation has led to child protection staff feeling obliged to do everything by the book rather than use their professional judgement, says the report.

Prof Munro also wants the government to ensure local areas have the freedom to innovate, with local authorities taking more responsibility for helping their staff to operate with a high level of skill and knowledge.

'Radical change'

And she calls for the social workers' expertise to be developed - pointing out that skilled help can enable more children and young people to stay safely with their families and bring "significant savings".

Prof Munro told the BBC people had "underestimated how much skill is needed to do good social work".

She said social workers did not stay on the front line long enough to become really good at the job.

"What I'm recommending is a radical change to how we see a social work career and we have a complete progression into senior management where you're still knocking on the front door and doing real work as well as managing the service."

Her report warns that more money will be needed at first to develop the additional training necessary to set the profession off on a "new path".

Prof Munro has stressed the importance of nurturing social work expertise

And it cautions that "cherry-picking" reforms will not lead to the desired improvements overall.

One of the major challenges, the report adds, is how to enable a wide range of professionals work together well for the good of vulnerable children.

Clear lines of accountability and named contacts are "vitally important" for this, she adds.

The report also places an emphasis on early intervention, calling on the government to place a duty on local councils to ensure there are enough early-help services for children, young people and families.

In particular it singles out the effectiveness of Sure Start Children's Centres in providing early help and intervention.

'Long term' implementation

Children's Minister Tim Loughton said the review presented some wide-ranging and radically different proposals for reform.

"It is now up to the government and the children's sector to work together to look at the recommendations in detail and assess the implications of their implementation in practice for the long term, not as a short term fix.

"To do this the government will be working closely with a group of professionals from across the children's sector and we will respond to Professor Munro's recommendations later this year."

Chief executive of children's charity 4Children said the review backed many of the calls families are making for a move away from bureaucratic assessment to personalised and hands on support for those who are struggling to cope.

"I hope that government follows Munro's recommendation of local support for families who are struggling but have not yet reached crisis point. Our new campaign, Give me Strength, argues for the urgent need to stop patching up problems after they spiral out of control and make prevention and early intervention a reality."

The College of Social Work agreed that social workers have been hampered by an excessive emphasis on form-filling and a compliance culture.

"Surveys have shown that child protection workers can spend more than 60% of their time at computer screens, time which would often be better spent in face-to-face work with children at risk of harm."

Children's Commissioner Maggie Atkinson said she welcomed the recognition that children and young people of all ages needed early intervention and help.

"Harmful behaviour affecting a child can occur at any age and professionals must be trained to recognise early on when family intervention and support is required for older children."

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