Sexual exploitation of vulnerable children in Inverclyde has been exposed in a shocking new report

Children's charity Barnardo's and the Scottish Children's Reporter have uncovered at least five cases locally where young people within the care and/or criminal justice system have been victims of sexual exploitation.

Greenock councillor Colin Jackson, who last year lifted the lid on the abuse of vulnerable women caught up in human trafficking locally, is now demanding answers about how such abhorrent crimes could be allowed to happen on our doorstep.

He has called on Inverclyde Council to take immediate action and raise awareness in the community, as social work bosses promise to investigate.

Councillor Jackson said: "Sexual exploitation and coercion of our most vulnerable children is a national scandal and I have written to our head of social work for a report into this locally.

"I have also written to our health and social care and chief social worker, asking why that when I raised the issue of young vulnerable women being to taken to Glasgow to be sexually exploited last year, my request for a campaign within the community to raise awareness to help identify possible victims has never been actioned."

The grim new report issued by the leading children's charity is the first of its type to be commissioned and researchers aimed to establish where child sexual exploitation was taking place.

In Inverclyde there were at least five cases identified in the report but there could be more hidden abuse taking place.

Child sexual exploitation is specifically defined as a form of abuse in which a child is forced or enticed into engaging in sexual activity in return for something.

It is recognised as a largely hidden crime, with children often not identifying themselves as victims.

The authors looked at girls staying within secure units, boys and girls living in residential units and young people in the criminal justice system.

The troubling report found that a high number of the young people exploited nationally had disabilities, while there was often alcohol and drug abuse in their family.

Almost half of the victims had been disowned or abandoned by parents by the time they were just 14.

Half of all the children had a parent who was either a perpetrator or victim of domestic abuse.

The council says its protection of young people has been praised by watchdogs but acknowledges there is more to do to protect kids from predators in our midst.

A spokesman said: “Inverclyde’s children and young people’s services were deemed ‘sector leading’ by the Care Inspectorate in 2017.

“Over the past three years, we have built on our knowledge and understanding of child sexual exploitation via a sub-group, a branch of the child protection committee, which takes best practice initiatives from national learning on child sexual exploitation and translates them to an Inverclyde context.

“Our vulnerable young persons pathway, a joint initiative with Renfrewshire Council, which co-ordinates multi-agency support for those young people identified as at risk of exploitation, is one such initiative.

“We also encourage early identification of child sexual exploitation via training and education of professionals, sharing best practice research in the area to those whose job it is to try to keep children and young people safe.

“To this aim, we work closely with the co-authors of this report, Barnardo’s, on a variety of different projects supporting children in our communities.

“Inverclyde Council and the health and social care partnership has also recently launched a £1.2m children’s counselling service in partnership with Action for Children.

“Such initiatives encourage children and young people to speak out and seek help if there are things they are worried about or need support with.

“Having said all this, we recognise that CSE is often a hidden crime and can be difficult to identify.

“We remain dedicated to employing best practice models and initiatives to ensure that our children can live without fear or experience of exploitation, but where they do, receive the help they need at the earliest possible juncture.”