Care home reforms to prevent child sex abuse

Care home reforms to prevent child sex abuse

Vital reforms to protect young people from sexual exploitation whilst in residential care homes, as well as an overhaul of the entire system for children living in care have been announced today by the Children’s Minister, Tim Loughton.

A report by Deputy Children’s Commissioner Sue Berelowitz has revealed that certain care homes are being specifically targeted by abusers as the constant turnover of young people in them allows for “a constant flow of vulnerable children for perpetrators to exploit”.

The report came after nine men in Rochdale were sentenced in May for the abuse and grooming of young girls.

The new measures which are to be introduced include more vigorous checks before allowing children to be placed in care homes outside of their own boroughs and reviewing all aspects of the quality of children’s homes.

46% of children in care are placed in residential homes which are miles away from their home towns and ministers have expressed surprise that there is a need for this.

Alongside this will be the introduction of clearer data around the number of children who go missing from care, following concern from ministers that there is no comprehensive set of figures and huge discrepancies between the number of local authority figures for missing children and the number of incidents recorded by the local police.

Mr Loughton expressed his hopes for the future of children’s care, saying: “We want to get rid of an ‘out of sight, out of mind’ culture which sees residential care as a last resort, instead of protecting vulnerable young people and giving them the best possible start in life.”

Abbie Cavendish

More in Uncategorised

Discover Mijas Costa: Sun, adventure and unmatched comfort

The editorial unit

Spring stirrings: Why the season of bloom turns people a bit randy

The editorial unit

Gaming in movies: Ten titles that got it right

The editorial unit

Interactive entertainment in the UK: AI storytelling and gamified experience

The editorial unit

La Cocina

Selina Sondermann

Key trends in the auto finance market for 2025

The editorial unit

Ergonomic benefits of using portable triple monitors for laptops

The editorial unit

Interpreting “candlestick patterns” in bitcoin price charts

The editorial unit

The hidden costs of KYC non-compliance: Insights from Skylory Corp

The editorial unit