Any strategy to try to prevent child sexual exploitation
must involve measures to ensure that homeless teenagers are given help to find
safe and secure accommodation. Young people on the streets are obvious targets
for criminals who are prepared to exploit them, either sexually or in other
ways.
So it is particularly shocking to read in the Independent allegations that, if true,
appear to indicate some local authorities are comprehensively failing in their
legal duty to provide help and assistance to children who have run away from home.
A spokesperson for the charity Coram Voice is reported as saying that some
councils refuse to help and just tell children to go back to families from
which they have fled, often because of violence and abuse.
I wonder what the point is in having complex inquiries into
child sexual exploitation if we are failing to take simple basic steps to make
children and young people safe. Leaving young people on the streets is little
short of reckless and the solution to the problem of their homelessness is
fairly straightforward – provide suitable accommodation.
