CEO, Jocelyn Anderson’s Views On The Grooming Scandal.
There is something compelling about a fresh start in a new year — a time to reflect and focus on change.
Many resolutions will be aspirational, some doomed to failure.
There are hundreds of books spouting about goal setting and many social media influencers using platforms to encourage you to be like them.
Personally, I think the only way that changes are made and last is if they are important for you and to you.
Recently we have seen the press full of Elon Musk speaking about sexual abuse in the UK.
He called on the King to dissolve parliament after Labour MP Jess Phillips rejected a call for a national inquiry into child grooming in Oldham.
All sorts of high-profile people have been out in force making comments and using survivors as political footballs.
Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative leader, called for a national inquiry into the grooming scandal saying, “only a statutory inquiry can adequately encompass the national nature of these crimes and issues” and consider whether reports were ignored by the police, CPS and local council “or even covered up”, the letter read.
But we have already had the inquiry.
The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) lasted for over seven years and cost more than £186 million.
It was supposed to be a vehicle for change, to ensure survivors had access to specialist support and to prevent more children from becoming victims.
They investigated abuse within churches, statutory organisations, schools, police and health.
In 2022 the final report described the sexual abuse of children as an “epidemic that leaves tens of thousands of victims in its poisonous wake”.
None of the 20 recommendations made by IICSA have been implemented. Nothing has improved.
In fact, there is less investment in the specialist sexual violence sector than in 2022 from the Ministry of Justice, survivors that do report are waiting longer than ever for cases to come to court (four to five years), waiting lists for support are growing and there is still no local authority or local health sexual violence strategy to support survivors within Worcestershire.
IICSA’s lasting legacy to date is the donation of two benches — one at Hindlip Hall West Mercia Police HQ and one at Diglis Weir.
We do not need another inquiry or another bench — we need a dedicated strategy to support survivors, properly-commissioned services and increased understanding of sexual violence to prevent more children becoming victims and early intervention for those that are abused to get support when they need it and for as long as they need it.
Perhaps some of those high-profile people and multi-millionaires would like to ensure the IICSA recommendations are finally implemented, or they could ensure that long-term funding is available for survivors to access services underpinned by a comprehensive sexual violence strategy.
If the only way change is made and lasts is because it matters to you, how about showing commitment to ensuring survivors matter and that ending male violence against women and girls, men and boys, matters.
Wouldn’t that make a fabulous new year’s resolution for us all?