Rochdale multi-agency team supports CSE victims
Nina Jacobs
Tuesday, August 31, 2021
Award-winning multi-agency team tackles all forms of exploitation in Rochdale and Greater Manchester.
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A specialist CSE nurse is part of the team, helping meet vulnerable young people’s health needs
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In addition to delivering support and education, it has been involved in successful prosecutions of perpetrators
ACTION
A 2013 report by the home affairs select committee on the response to child sexual exploitation (CSE) and localised grooming, raised concerns over how agencies were tackling the problem in parts of England.
It highlighted the “appalling cost” paid by victims of CSE in areas such as Rochdale and Rotherham due to “catastrophic, multi-agency failures” dating as far back as 2004.
In response to rising concerns over CSE, Rochdale Council established Sunrise, an award-winning multi-agency safeguarding team, in 2008, and by 2010 it had identified nearly 80 children at risk of or experiencing sexual exploitation in the borough.
Fast forward a decade and the work of Sunrise continues to help safeguard young people, raise awareness of child exploitation and target perpetrators.
Funded by Rochdale Council and Greater Manchester Police, the team consists of specialist police officers and detectives, social workers, a specialist CSE nurse, parenting workers (from the council and voluntary sector) and a psychotherapist.
While referral numbers can fluctuate, around 130 young people are referred to the team each year, of which 55 per cent of cases relate to child criminal exploitation (CCE) and 45 per cent to CSE.
On average, the team works with nearly 110 young people affected by exploitation at any one time.
Its engagement work on prevention and awareness raising aims to reach all 33,000 young people living in Rochdale as well as those across Greater Manchester. Similarly, it hopes to raise awareness among adults to help them identify signs of child exploitation and support the council’s efforts in safeguarding children and young people.
Another of the team’s partners, charity PACE, provides support for parents whose children have been affected by CSE or CCE. This advises parents on the role and processes of the agencies involved with their child as well as providing advocacy and emotional support. It also enables them to reflect on their own experience of parenting a child affected by exploitation.
A specialist CSE nurse, funded by Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust, ensures the health needs of young people referred to the team are being met. This is done through creating links with GPs, school nurses and carrying out health assessments to identify areas of specialist support.
Young people are supported to see GPs, sexual health services as well as those offering mental health support.
Direct work is also carried out around relationships, sexual health, emotional wellbeing and drug and alcohol use.
Another aspect of the specialist CSE nurse role involves training GPs, student nurses, emergency care services as well regular liaison with local sexual health services and other specialist nurses across Greater Manchester and the North West.
The team says evidence of the role’s success has been a “major influence” in developing similar roles in complex safeguarding teams across Greater Manchester.
Three years ago, the team expanded its staff to include a clinical psychotherapist as part of a Greater Manchester initiative funded by the Home Office. Initially for a period of six months, the Trusted Relationships Project was so successful it was extended for a further two and a half years.
The project aims to build on the team’s existing expertise through the use of trauma-informed case formulation and models of psychological recovery.
The young person and the existing “trusted relationship” is at the heart of the model and aims to enhance recovery by strengthening this relationship, says the team.
IMPACT
In terms of CSE, the team has had seven significant operations in recent years, three of which have resulted in successful prosecutions with perpetrators receiving significant custodial sentences.
The team says the work has involved national operations in cases where offenders live outside of Rochdale.
In addition, a further 10 successful prosecutions since 2019 have also seen offenders receive lengthy custodial sentences.
It believes its success is demonstrated in the quality of its investigations with evidence collated through analysis of technology and sharing of intelligence within the team.
“This is seen through the number of successful prosecutions where offenders have pleaded guilty pre-trial.
“The partnership working in the team is vital in identifying offenders, obtaining evidence in order to progress with charges and eventual prosecution,” it says.
Sunrise also won the Public Sector Children’s Team Award at the CYP Now Awards 2020.