Free children from abuse and knife crime

Normally, society veers towards one end of this spectrum - for example, in the 1980s with the Children Act, society adopted a welfare model which then changed in the '90s with joy riding on northern estates and the tragic death of James Bulger. At present when it comes to children, there are two narratives that are currently playing out in our society.

The first is the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse which was established on the 12 March 2015 following increasing reports of child sexual abuse in a number of institutions including the BBC, NHS, children's homes and schools. There had also been a number of failures within the police to investigate allegations of child sexual abuse and failures within the Crown Prosecution Service to prosecute these allegations.

The NSPCC in 2018 published the report How safe are our children?, which showed a rise in police recorded child sexual offences across the UK, increases in child cruelty and neglect offences in all UK nations except Scotland, and higher numbers of children on child protection plans and registers over the past decade.

The second narrative that is dominant within our society is that of knife crime, where between March 2017 and 2018 the Home Office recorded 285 killings being carried out with a knife or sharp object. Figures also show that knife attacks on teenagers were up by 93 per cent in five years. 2018 was London's bloodiest year in almost a decade as the murder toll reached 134 - most of which were knife related.

The church I work for was awarded a Home Office Anti-Knife Crime Community Grant, which has meant over the last few months, I have worked with young people who are at risk of or actively engaged in carrying knives. When speaking with them, the narrative is consistent - they carry knives because they feel unsafe.

To be clear, I am not suggesting there is a correlation between child sexual abuse and knife crime. However, I do believe that we as professionals should reflect on why the children and young people we serve are feeling this way. Also, what is happening in Scotland? Why is it their child cruelty and neglect offences are not rising in the same way as in England, and why is it England looks to Scotland on how to tackle knife crime?

It is time for visionaries to step forward and look beyond the panic funding of the government, discard aspirations for promotion and think through how we can enable children and young people to feel safe. Academics also need to play their part in reimagining a safer future for children instead of chasing current funding. Sadly for them, it is all too often the Midas touch in reverse - if it is golden, they will touch it and if it isn't, they won't be anywhere in sight.

Nathan Ward is vicar of St Margaret's Church, Rainham, and former youth custody deputy director