Charity pleas for action on child exploitation

A CHARITY has called for urgent action to protect vulnerable young people from sexual exploitation in Scotland.

Anne Marie Carrie, the new chief executive of children's charity Barnardo's used her first day in office to call for action to protect the thousands of young girls and boys across the UK who are being preyed upon and then abused, raped and exploited for sex.

The charity, which has been supporting these children and young people for 16 years and runs 22 specialist services across the UK, worked with more than 1,000 sexually exploited girls and boys last year.

In Scotland, between April 2009 and March 2010, there were 92 of these cases in Glasgow that the charity worked with, including 64 girls and 28 boys.

In Dundee, there were 25 cases including 24 girls and one boy.

Between April and September 2010, the charity worked with 62 youngsters in Glasgow and Dundee. Out of these cases, 51 were girls and 11 were boys.

Mrs Carrie, who grew up in Easterhouse in Glasgow, said: "I have a lifetime of experience working in children's services, but there is nothing more shocking than child sexual exploitation.

"These vulnerable defenceless girls and boys, who crave love and attention, are groomed then abused in the most callous and calculated way, leaving them deeply traumatised and scarred for life. Although I thoroughly welcome the recent attention around the issue, the children at the heart of this callous crime have been forgotten as discussion has focused on the ethnicity of perpetrators in recent high- profile cases."

Mrs Carrie said she was "calling on the public" to urge the government to take radical action and appoint a minister who will take responsibility and bring forward a plan to deliver a "step change in policy and practice" to help exploited youngsters.

She was speaking as a new Barnardo's report on sexual exploitation, called "Puppet on a String", was published.

Martin Crewe, director of Barnardo's Scotland, said: "We urge ministers in Scotland to take this opportunity to make good their commitment in 2003, to commission research into the scope of the problem of sexual exploitation of children and young people in Scotland.

"The latest Scottish Government guidance on child sexual exploitation dates from 2003, and needs to be revised and refreshed to take account of developments since then."

The charity said "trafficking" is becoming more common and sexual exploitation more organised. The average age of service users has fallen from 15 to 13, with some of the charity's services now working with children as young as ten.

A Scottish Government spokeswoman said last night: "Following a comprehensive review and consultation on the child protection procedures, the Scottish Government issued new guidelines last month strengthening the system."