Description
The inquiry into the institutional response to child sexual abuse has arisen in part due to the inability of many professionals to recognise and acknowledge the claims made by those reporting what we would now term child sexual exploitation. Many victims who were able to reach out in attempt to seek help were either disbelieved or criminalised and prosecuted for criminal activity that arose as a consequence of their exploitation and/or on the grounds of being labelled a ‘child prostitute’. It now seems that the barrier to providing effective intervention to assist young people to escape the exploitative context, and to move on to live more fulfilled lives, is not only the inability to correctly identify with victims in a timely manner, but also the resistance that many victims demonstrate in response to ‘rescue’ efforts. The focus of this presentation is thus three fold: 1) To highlight the issues faced in identifying victims and to suggest possibly ways of enhancing timely identification. 2) To explore the issue of victim resistance to being rescued from the exploitative situation and to consider potential solutions 3) To consider the consequences of the failure to intervene effectively with this group of victims.| Period | 13 Jun 2016 |
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| Event title | Meeting of Royal College of Psychiatrists Public Mental Health Network Theme: Prevention and Early Treatment of Adverse Childhood Experiences |
| Event type | Conference |
| Location | London, United Kingdom |
| Degree of Recognition | National |