New support for Mansfield children who have been sexually abused

For a programme, Support Rethought, funded by the government, has been launched by The Children’s Society charity to run as a one-year pilot.

It offers one-to-one help for eight-to-18-year-olds across the county for up to eight weeks, alongside a parent or carer if required.

The service will support children who have been sexually abused by relatives or friends, or by strangers who groom them with offers of love and friendship and gifts and sexually exploit them.

Crucially, they will be seen within six weeks of them reporting the alleged abuse, after complaints in the past of youngsters facing long, traumatic delays.

Project workers from the charity will provide emotional support and assess the child’s needs, acting as advocates to organise future help.

In 2019/20, Nottinghamshire identified 599 instances of child sexual abuse and 230 cases of child sexual exploitation.

However, this was only the tip of the iceberg because most cases are never reported to the authorities. The national Child Sexual Abuse Centre estimates that at least 15 per cent of girls and five per cent of boys experience sexual abuse before the age of 16.

Becky Fedia, of The Children’s Society, said:| “It takes enormous courage for any child or young person who has been sexually abused or exploited to tell someone about their horrendous ordeal.

"In those difficult weeks after reporting the abuse, many are left without the help they desperately need, and are placed on long waiting lists before they get support.

"Through this new service, we are looking to fill that gap by helping children to cope and to access long-term support.”

One teenager from Nottinghamshire who has already been helped by the programme is Beth, who was referred to The Children’s Society by social services after she was sexually groomed and exploited by older males.

She said: “My project worker talked me through things like safe relationships. She’s been brilliant and her support meant I didn’t have to struggle by myself.

"I feel safe now, less alone and a lot more confident. I would say to anyone in my situation to speak to someone and get some help.”

Nottinghamshire, including Mansfield and Ashfield, is all too familiar with the horrors of child sexual abuse after the county was the subject of an independent inquiry into historic cases dating back to the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s and 1990s.

The inquiry found that hundreds of children were subjected to repeated rapes and sexual abuse by predatory foster carers and staff at residential homes.

The abuse was widespread, tolerated or overlooked, particularly at council-run children’s homes.

The Chad backed a campaign to urge survivors of sexual abuse to come forward as the scale of the scandal emerged.

The campaign was led by former Army colonel David Hollas, who was determined to take action after meeting a Forest Town resident, another ex-serviceman, who had been sexually abused as a youngster while in care.

In recent years, the police have conducted special operations to investigate allegations of historic abuse at children’s homes.

Several people have been convicted, including ex-staff members at the old Skegby Hall home in Sutton and The Ridge, a former home in Mansfield.

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