Our statement on the Casey report

Baroness Casey’s report on the National Audit on Group-based Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse is an uncomfortable and painful read, especially so for any professional with a responsibility for safeguarding children.

This is not because it contains anything surprising – many of the failings it identifies are already known – but because it highlights a systemic failure of tragic proportions.

At the heart of this report is a failure from all professionals involved, including social workers, to see and treat children as children. It should not need articulating that a child under 16 cannot consent to sex with an adult man and cannot be considered a willing participant in the exploitation of their body. And yet the report makes clear that tragically these young girls were viewed as complicit in the manipulation, coercion and abuse they experienced.

The ethnicity and class of a child should never affect how seriously we take their abuse. And the ethnicity or class of their abuser should never affect how we respond to their actions.

We welcome the announcement of a national inquiry, which has repeatedly been asked for by victims, and hope it brings them some level of closure and justice.

Inquiries by their very nature take a long time, but that does not mean that change cannot happen immediately. We urge organisations and professionals to take action now; the problems are known and have long been known and there are many examples of excellent practice happening up and down the country which can guide the way. We are pleased that the Government seems to acknowledge the need for immediate action. It is up to all of us in the sector to facilitate this and hold them to account.

Over the coming weeks, we will be reviewing the full report again in detail and considering how we can incorporate its insight into our own programmes and training. We hope that every professional working with children at risk of harm does the same.