Council 'missed opportunities' to protect sexual exploitation victims

Nine men were jailed in May for grooming and abusing girls as young as 13 in the area. The report into how a range of agencies dealt with their cases, commissioned by the Rochdale Borough Safeguarding Children Board after the trial, found that victims of abuse were repeatedly let down by child welfare organisations and police over a period of five years.

It documents the experiences of one girl referred to as ‘Suzie’ between 2007 and 2012, warning that social workers and managers underestimated the control that a group of men had over her.

Suzie, who first became known to services aged 15, made complaints of sexual abuse in 2008, but the review found that comments written in case files said she and other children were considered to be “making their own choices” and “engaging in consensual sexual activity”.

Acknowledging a lack of understanding about appropriate responses to sexual exploitation at the council and other agencies, the review said that had existing legal and safeguarding processes been used effectively, the young victims would have been spared suffering and their abusers brought to trial earlier.

The review meanwhile criticised social workers for focusing their attention on safeguarding Suzie’s child. The report said: “In children’s social care, as in similar organisations across the country, the focus was on younger children at risk of abuse from family and household members, rather than on vulnerable adolescents.”

Rochdale Borough Council acknowledged the report’s conclusions. “The council accepts the findings of this review which has shown deficiencies in our children’s social care service, and in parts, an unacceptable level of support,” said Jim Taylor, chief executive of the council.

“We are well aware of the issues the review raises and the way the council and its partners now approach the issue of child sexual exploitation has changed.”

Taylor said the council would publish its own review of internal processes and procedures next month.

“I need to be confident that improvements have gone far enough, that we really are doing everything we can to ensure young people are protected and supported and that abusers are brought to justice quickly,” he added.