Children in Wales at greater risk of sexual exploitation during lockdown, warns NSPCC

• During lockdown, the charity’s Protect and Respect service helped over 200 children across the UK at risk of exploitation
• NSPCC practitioners are encouraging schools to refer any concerns on to them
• NSPCC Cymru urges Welsh Government to make a long-term commitment to keeping children safe online

Child sexual exploitation experts at the NSPCC are warning that children have been at greater risk of abuse during lockdown – but fear many may not have been able to get help.

Throughout the pandemic practitioners in Wales have continued to be there for children, and supported children at risk, despite not being able to deliver face to face support.

Figures for 2019/20 highlight how Childline counselled 114 children from Wales about child exploitation in the 12 months leading up to lockdown, with almost half of these contacts involving an online element such as sexting, online grooming, or online sexual harassment.

But the NSPCC’s frontline teams in Wales, who work in the Protect and Respect service, worry that many more children may have suffered from sexual exploitation since then, and will not have had access to their normal avenues of support and protective adults.

It comes as the NSPCC’s Childline service saw counselling sessions with children and young people from across the UK and Channel Islands about child sexual exploitation, grooming, and contact with a person who posed an online sexual abuse risk increase by 18% during the lockdown.

A recent NSPCC report ‘Isolated and Struggling’, showed how lockdown increased the risks of child abuse and neglect.

To deal with the type of worrying cases and situations that the charity’s frontline Protect and Respect practitioners encounter, NSPCC Cymru is urging Welsh Government to make a long-term commitment to keeping children safe online, by reviewing and updating its online action plan annually. The plan was considered a considerable step forward when it was introduced following calls from the charity in 2016.

Since the NSPCC launched its Protect and Respect service in Wales in 2018 from its hubs in the north and south of the country, it has supported 790 young people at risk of sexual exploitation.

The charity routinely helps and hears from children who are being manipulated or blackmailed into carrying out sexual acts. For many, this impacts on their mental health and leaves them feeling isolated from the people closest to them. Some turn to self-harm, alcohol, or substance misuse as ways of coping with their experiences.

Jan Abbott, a Protect and Respect practitioner for the NSPCC in Wales, features in an animation the charity has created to help raise awareness.

She says: “Young people will often not recognise themselves as victims of exploitation, due to the nature of grooming. That is why it’s so important that we empower them to recognise unhealthy relationships and perpetrators’ grooming behaviour. 

“Maintaining regular sessions with young people throughout the pandemic has been a vital lifeline for some of the children and families our practitioners have been working with, ensuring that they are supported and can talk to someone they trust.

“As COVID-19 continues to impact on our lives, we will continue to adapt how we work on the frontline to help children cope and recover.”

A 13-year old boy told Childline:

“I’m worried about this “friend” I know online. We have built an online relationship but have never met. They told me how much they trust me and say, “I love you” all the time which makes me feel I have to say it back. Recently they asked me to watch things together online. I didn’t think anything of it until they started making me watch online content that was explicit and meant for adults. I feel trapped as I don’t know how to tell them I feel uncomfortable watching this sort of thing and now am beginning to think about all the things they have said to me in the past and realise it’s not right.”

Now children are back in school the charity wants to see communities – schools, parents, and professionals – work together to spot the signs of abuse, enable children to come forward, and make sure they have access to the right support.

Through the Protect and Respect programme, NSPCC practitioners help young people aged between 11-19 who have been or are, at risk of being coerced or forced into sexual activity – both online and offline.

The players of People’s Postcode Lottery donated £730,000 to the Protect and Respect service across the UK last year, the equivalent of funding the salaries of 18 practitioners for a year.

NSPCC Cymru’s Protect & Respect service is offered from its service centres in north and south Wales. It accepts self-referrals as well as referrals from social workers and professionals. For more information visit the NSPCC website or contact 01792 456545, 02920 108080 or 01745 772100.

Anyone concerned about a child can contact the NSPCC Helpline for advice on 0808 800 5000. Adult victims of non-recent sexual abuse can also get in touch for support.

Childline is available for young people on 0800 1111 or at www.childline.org.uk