We are proud to have signed an open letter, alongside Barnardo's and 20,136 members of the public, calling on the Government to provide support services to child victims of criminal and sexual exploitation.
The Victims and Prisoners Bill offers an opportunity to bring about meaningful change, but currently does not address the lack of support for child victims of abuse and exploitation. We know that there is a need for high-quality trauma-informed services for young women and girls affected by exploitation.
NSPCC, The Children's Society, Safer London, Redthread, Catch 22, St Gile's and many other organisations working to keep children and young people safe have also signed - we have joined together over the last year to call for the Bill to be dramatically improved as it fails to recognise children as victims in their own right and provides no assurances that child victims will have guaranteed access to support services that they need.
