Safeguarding Children: Reflection on a Case of Sexual Exploitation

This study explores a case of child sexual exploitation, the role of agencies in safeguarding the child, and the importance of statutory policies. It discusses the impact of sexual abuse on the child, the support provided by agencies, and the legislation to protect children from abuse.

SAFEGUARDING CHILDREN
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This study is about child’s sexual molestation case history, its reflection on the
child, helping agencies, the prospects of safeguarding that child with respect to
probable risk management, interpersonal roles and vulnerability. This discussion also
includes the legislations to keep children in a safe position in case of sexual abuse. The
focus of the study is to increase awareness about a person’s roles and responsibilities
that they are required to fulfil in order to follow statutory policies.
According to Warr (2014, p.17) the term “child abuse” refers to any form of violence,
mistreatment or neglect applied to a child by an adult and there are four types of abuse:
neglect, physical, emotional and sexual abuse. Sexual exploitation is a form of abuse
that can take place in the areas of work, colleges, and schools and even at home which
may tend the child to face post order trauma, anxiety, depression and many more
mental health issues that can be faced by a person in his/her adulthood. Sexual
exploitation is a serious issue for the child that should be taken seriously in order to
reduced and eliminate the risk of being abused (Pearce,2019,p.154). This study is an
example of thousands of cases like Katie from UK.
In the case of chosen SCR, Katie started facing sexual exploitation from the age of 14.
Katie lived with her mother at first, after the separation of her parents. She was
neglected and was forced to live in a caravan outside the home. Katie started living with
her father after some time. However, her father shared her home with other men and
the environment was not suitable for Katie at all. Slowly she started using foul language
and became a drug addict. Katie had nobody who could take care of her, although both
of her father and mother were alive. She started living in foster care.
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Katie got support from several agencies like Family Support Service and Multi Agency
Safeguarding Hub. These are the two main agencies who worked on assignment to
support family by identifying Katie as a “Child in need”. This shows that social welfare
agencies got involved to rescue Katie who was trying to self-harm.
The roles of agencies for supporting the sexual abuse victim children or likely to be
suffered are to protect them from getting further molestation or neglect. The
organisations try to explore the bad experiences and feelings of the victims. They try to
provide emotional support including rebuilding trust on society. They also provide
counselling that will help the child to overcome the trauma, cope up with the post
incidental symptoms like anxiety, depression, post traumatic order, flashbacks,
nightmares and most importantly to eliminate the tendency of self-harm. With mental
health, the agencies also provide care for physical needs after trauma. They look for
reducing further risk factors for that particular child so that they can be both mentally
and physically stable in adulthood (Henderson & Thompson, 2015, p.631). The initiative
that is taken by agencies in general for reducing cases like Katie is to guide families
who are in need or risk with respect to this aspect.
In Katie’s case school took some steps to ensured that education of the victim is not
affected even after she moved to another school. Not only this Katie’s GP also came
forward about Child Sexual Exploitation and shared some information with “Children’s
Social Care” (Davies et al., 2015). A number of child abuse caring practitioners from
several agencies developed strong relationships with the victim, Katie, which has
helped her to overcome the trauma she was going through. They invested sufficient
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time with Katie and her family in order to provide mental support to them (Sheehan,
2018).
The agencies ensured that all the services that were provided to the victim and her
family should be in a continuation until she gets justice and gets stable. For this reason,
Katie was provided with a taxi to go to school as a part of care and safety. CAFCASS
ensured that Katie had suffered a lot and meets the criteria of Serious Case Review.
The agencies also ensured that she should be getting good nursing by the school nurse
in order to maintain her sexual health check-ups as well as mental health (GDC, 2019).
From the above brief description it is clear there is a huge role of agencies in order to
support the victims of child sexual abuse so that risk management can be maintained,
and support can be provided to organizations that help victims like Katie. There are
some vulnerable factors behind in every sexual abuse case and in the case of child
molestation; the factors are even huge and high in number. The factors of increasing
vulnerability to child sexual abuse and neglect are divided mainly into two parts like;
family factors and child factors (Lane et al., 2016). Katie was in a situation due to the
habit of taking drugs like “sex for drugs”. Many times, she went missing for the same
willingly. These are sufficient cause that helps in explaining vulnerable situation of
teenagers like Katie.
The definitions and credentials of the serious case review of the child’s sexual abuse of
Katie are explained here. The above discussion sketches that the factors of vulnerability
that increases the chance of sexual molestation, the role of risk management to control
the after-effect of sexual molestation as well as the risk of being molested. The role of
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agencies for reducing abuse rate and supporting victims like Katie so that they can live
a stable life both physically and mentally. The study shows that Katie the victim is
getting sufficient support from multiagency in order to cope up with her situation.
According to the research of GOV.uk (2019), it is clear that Katie is being effectively
supported by various organizations who support sexual victim. They are continuously
working on Katie and her family’s case according to SCR. The agencies are providing
mental and physical health support to the victim and the family to cope up with the
problems they have faced. Agencies have organised a timely review of SCR from a
legal perspective. Katie was provided by timely sexual heath checkups even by the
school nurse without hindering her school education. She was also provided with early
help till 2016 (WHO, 2019). The risk factor of being abused again has been reduced
with the positive efforts of agencies as well as the government.
The study of NSPCC (2019) shows that there were some things that could be done by
the agencies in this case like; multi-agencies should encourage all the practitioners of
that organisation work with the child in a conjugated manner. They must focus on to
reduce the influence of drugs and alcohol in order to decrease the rate of sexual
molestation among children and teenagers. The agencies must look after the change in
legal aspects, services and staff in order to provide for continuation of facilities that a
victim should get with respect to SCR (Saied-Tessier, 2014). Thus, the critical analysis
shows that there are some pros and cons of these agencies who provide medical and
legal support Katie who is a victim of sexual exploitation.
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The first children act in the United Kingdom came into force in 1989. The Children Act
1989 was brought into force to provide clear and well-structured laws. The child
protection legislation can be categorized into civil and criminal law. Civil laws are to
keep children away from harm and include the actions that should be taken to reduce
the risk factors. In addition, it gives guidelines for family matters such as divorce. On the
other hand, Criminal laws include actions, which can be taken against people who have
caused harm to children (Lindon, 2012, pp.5-6).
The Children Act 1989: The welfare of children was the main concern of this act. This
act stated that both mother and father, married or not, are responsible for a child.
Section 20 of the act states local authorities should provide care for children in the
absence of any parental figure. In addition, the views of the children have to be taken
into account while deciding the accommodations. Section 26 makes the regular
reviewing mandatory for the local authority (Legislation, 2019). However, the Children
Act of 1989 was amended in 2004.
The Children Act 2004: The amended act had all the features of the previous
legislation and added some new regulations regarding children's commission. This act
stated that along with creating a Children’s Commission, which will ensure children
Safety in England, local authorities will be promoting the wellbeing of children (Leigh
and Laing, 2018). Moreover, this act limited the usage of defence of physical
punishment of a child abuser.
Sexual Offences Act 2003: This act includes all the acts that come under sexual
offences. This act is similar to section 47 of the legislation of 1989, which states that
action should be taken when a child faces the risk of harm in any situation by any
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individual (CPS, 2019). This act mainly focuses on covering sexual assault, non-
consensual offence of rape, assault by penetration and causing a person to engage in
sexual activity without their consent.
An important act like the Children Act of 1989 states about the professional
responsibilities of safeguarding children should have commitment to the children’s
wellbeing. According to the Children Act of 2004, children commission was formed to
define and implement the responsibilities (Brennan and Phippen, 2019).
These acts were brought into force within a year when UK passed guidelines on ways to
keep children safe in every situation. The individuals or professionals responsible for
children-safety should follow some policies, which are mentioned below:
Conforming to Legislation (2019), the act of 1989 ensures that a child always has a
parental figure. Maximum care can be ensured for a child by making both mother and
father responsible. The responsibilities of the local authority in the absence of the
parental figures, add to safety measures. Modi et al. (2014) asserted that any
responsible individual or authority is bound to provide care for the children regardless of
their religion, religion and other factors. This act has been able to ensure the maximum
safety of any child in any circumstances.
According to Legislation (2019), the Children Act of 2004 mentions the formation
Children Commission. The commission must analyse and evaluate any matter relating
to child safety and make reports based on them. The commission should focus on
publishing a report which is suitable for children. According to a website GP notebook
(2019), asserted that proper monitoring on the safety of the children all over the country
would be possible by the implementation of this section of the act.
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As per the findings of Safeguarding Children, Young People and Vulnerable Adults
Policy, the Children Act of 1989 states that the professionals responsible for
safeguarding children should have a commitment to their wellbeing. Local authorities,
police force, various care facilities- all have statutory duties to maintain child safety.
Keeping Children Safe (2014) agreed that commitment towards wellbeing helps in the
cause of safeguarding the children. It is important for all the individuals responsible for
safeguarding children should be equipped and skilled to play their roles effectively.
The Child Act of 1989 states that local authorities or individuals must consider the views
of a child in need before sending him to any care facility (GovUK, 2019). The religion,
race, culture and so on of the child in need should be taken into account as well.
Transparency Project (2019) agrees that the most suitable accommodation can be
decided by considering the view of a child.
According to Hairston (2017), the act of 2004 mentions, Regular reviews will provide the
details of the current condition of the child. This will establish whether the current
facilities in which child is living are suitable for them or not. It is understood that there
are possible avenues to maintain the safety of a child by regularly reviewing his/her
conditions and the environment (Working Together, 2019).
According to Wilson (2018), the Sexual Offences Act of 2003 states, the identification of
the risk factor is very important for the person responsible for safeguarding the children.
The responsible person should inform the police or local authority immediately when a
child is in danger. The child in protection may try to express his distress or problems.
The person responsible for the child should listen and create a comfortable atmosphere
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for the child. CPS (2019) agrees that identification of the issues that can cause harm to
a child is important. This will help in reducing the risk factors.
In case of this serious case, Positive effects of multi agencies are explained in a
elaborated manner. After the sorrowful incident of sexual exploitation happened with
Katie, several agencies came front to help the family and the girl with health care,
mental care and justice. From the year of 2015, the family of Katie were receiving
intensive Early help until she came into care i.e. family got Early Help till April 2018 until
she was moved to a specialist residential. There are some responsibilities of multi-
agencies in case of responding to child sexual abuse and neglect (NICE, 2017). The
local authorities can follow the Ofsted current system for developing new framework of
child safety. Moreover, the multinational agency meeting should be held for developing
the policies for supporting the family support services. This will help to improve the
safeguarding of children. Moreover, Children protection theory should be followed for
improving the integrated Family support services that is important for taking steps
against the issue of child abuse (Searing, 2019). Furthermore, crisis intervention
theory that has been developed by the government should be followed for providing
children service. It would help in recognising the intervention for enhancing the child
protection in different regions of UK.
Local authorities and agencies play a crucial part in the safeguarding of the children. As
per the findings of UNICEF (2019), communication and motivation play an important
part in dealing with abused children. Children may lose their motivation and confidence.
They may have a problem in communicating and interacting with others. Therefore, a
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friendly atmosphere should be created where the effected child can get back to his
normal self. Based on the thorough study of Katie’s case, communication and building
motivation was highly recommended by the agencies who took care of Katie. The
individuals responsible for safeguarding Katie were recommended to focus on her and
her environment. In addition, the findings of UNICEF (2019) suggest that engagement
of the effected child becomes a serious matter. The affected children may have a tough
time overcoming their bad experiences and trauma. The individuals responsible for
taking care of the effected child should find ways for engagement. The focus of the child
will move from the bad experience when he has other things to do. For example
engaging child in extra-curricular activities such as painting, sports will help them to
divert child from their bad experience. Engagement was established as a key factor in
the case of Katie as well.
As per the findings of Modi et al. (2014), the Child Act of 2004 stated that the children in
need should be provided help and accommodation regardless of any factor. Moreover,
the act stated that all the caretaking agencies, local authorities and another individual
must take active part in the safeguarding of children. Katie was put into foster care for
her wellbeing. However, she had grown some bad habits such as smoking and using
bad language while she was staying with her father. Nonetheless, she was provided
with help. Moreover, it was established that Katie had gone missing for some time.
Nonetheless, the care agencies played a crucial part in keeping her safe.
The Family Support Service stood by Katie and her close ones since 2005. Katie had
lived with her father and in foster care in the past few years. As per the findings of Safer
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Children York (2019) the main purpose of Children Act of 1989, is to meet the individual
needs of each child. In addition, the act stated that monitoring of the affected children is
crucial. The recommendations for Katie included this key factor. It was recommended
that all the information regarding the case must be gathered and analysed. It will help to
understand her situation properly and ensure a proper care planning.
The findings of NSPCC (2019) discovered the case of Patrick and Patricia, which
seemed to be similar to Katie. The two half-siblings faced the risk of sexual abuse. Their
father and grandfather were accused of abusing girls sexually. Their mother was not
able to take their responsibility. The siblings ended in foster care in the absence of
parental figure. However, children care services kept in touch with the family since the
time Patrick was born because of family history.
A big issue in the case of Katie was her being neglected. The issue was the same in
the case of Mathew and his three siblings. Their mother did not have the capability to
care for her children. Mathew had to be hospitalized with a fractured skull. The injury
was not due to an accident. His mother’s addiction to drugs prevented her from taking
proper care for the children. The case of Katie was more serious than Patrick, Patricia,
and Mathew. Katie was both neglected and sexually assaulted. Patrick and Patricia did
not have to face any abuse as they were in constant monitoring of care agencies. The
identification of risk factors, which could harm them, was done in time. Therefore, it was
possible to prevent danger. On the other hand, Mathew and his three siblings went
through more than Patrick and Patricia. Katie would not have to face the issues, if all
kinds of risk factors in the environment in which they live were diagnosed earlier.
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The possible theoretical perspectives relating to the chosen SCR focusing on the
causes of the child has increased vulnerability. In Katie’s case, she was a victim of
sexual exploitation, this reason was itself sufficient to prove her vulnerability. The
serious case review shows that Katie was found missing at the beginning of the
September month of 2016. She used to smoke cannabis and was really at a high risk of
Child Sexual Exploitation. However, the risk assignment says that she was at medium
risk. From April 2016, Katie had gone missing nearly three times and at the end of
September that year, she disclosed her sexual activity with an older male and a teacher.
In the middle of October, she faced suspension for 3 days for smoking in the school
premises and this was not her first time (Early Intervention Foundation, 2018). Her
mother was not ready to keep her at home; the property owner of her dad was not ready
to keep her on his premises. Due to this, she had to change her place many time, which
had worsened the condition of the victim more. All these reasons are sufficient to
increase the risk of being sexually abused for a teenager like Katie.
A child must be taken care of by the legal carer or the parents at first. To deal with the
problem of sexual abuse the parents must be more caring, attentive and patient (Brown,
2019). They must actively listen to their children, involve with them to help them out or
make them aware of such situations. Parents must inspire their children to empower
and to find solutions for the occurred problem. Parents must monitor their children’s
current involvement to measure the risk of CSE (child sexual exploitation).
On the other hand, the responsibilities of agencies working with the victim's families
must focus on building trust where they could be available for the victimised person and
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family. In United Kingdom the cases of CSE (child sexual exploitation) are increasing at
a high rate as per the study says. Thus, the case of Katie shows that the needed efforts
to reduce and wipe out the chances of child sexual exploitation need more attention and
efficient solutions in the United Kingdom (Childrens Commissioner, 2019).
In this case, using psychological theory of child abuse, it can be figured that Katie has
been harmed and exploited sexually. Hence, parents need to be more conscious for
improving the mental health of Katie after experiencing sexual harassment. With this
theory, the emotional state of the child should be considered, which is beneficial to
further motivate Katie. Moreover, from the case of Katie, it can be said that there is an
increasing issue of child abuse in the nation (Gervais and Romano, 2018). On the other
hand, according to the theory of child abuse, it could be predicted that Katie has gone
through emotional trauma and this apparently has affected her study and other daily
activities. Hence, this issue can bring deterioration in her mental health and can
damage her career.
Here the discussion reflects the child abuse case of Katie, a girl from the United
Kingdom. This study has elaborated Katie’s case in a clear manner, the overall causes
of risk factors, the vulnerability of the victim here, the recommendations aligned with this
case study of Serious Case Review. The discussion has enlightened all kinds of laws of
UK related to sexual harassment and facilities that are required by an abused child
should in order to gain both physical and mental stability. Thus, the above study will
help in generating awareness among people about child sexual harassment and what
should one do if this happens. The study shows the effectiveness of agencies in case of
helping Katie with respect to legal support, mental health and physical health needs.
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Conclusion
This study has helped in analysing the issues of child abuse that is strongly affecting the
lives of the children in UK. Here discussion on different theories of child abuse has been
done that has helped in understanding the concept of child abuse and ways in which
abuse can bring negative effect in the child’s mind. Moreover, using SCR of Katie, it has
been found that this issue has made the child emotionally weak and mentally down. The
provided recommendations such as providing mental support, taking help from
multinational agencies can help Katie to overcome this trauma of child abuse that is
caused due to child exploitation.
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