Pictured at the child sexual xxploitation conference, from left, Deirdre Mahon, Western Trust Assistant Director of Child Safeguarding; Kieran Downey, Western Trust Director of Women’s and Children’s Services and Executive Director of Social Work; Western Trust Chairman, Gerard Guckian; Mike Hand, NWG; Sheila Taylor, NWG; Ray McMarrow.
A major conference aimed at tackling child sexual exploitation is being held in Derry.
Organised by Western Health and Social Care Trust (Western Trust) for staff and local agencies, the conference is being attending by over 250 people who are hearing from experts in the field child sexual exploitation.
Health and Social Care staff and other agencies from across Tyrone, Derry and Fermanagh who are involved in safeguarding young people are among those attending.
The event features a number of local community workshops targeted at anyone from hoteliers to Taxi firms to help highlight what can be done to help keep children safe.
Opening the conference, Gerard Guckian, chairperson of the Western Trust, said the event was “totally dedicated” to tackling the issue of child sexual exploitation in Northern Ireland.
He added: “Everyone here today has come to try and move forward the debate among professionals and others responsible for caring for young people on how to spot the signs of child sexual exploitation.”
He concluded: “We are proud to bring national experts directly in to engage with our communities.”
Keynote speaker Sheila Taylor, who worked closely with the Western Trust in planning the conference and workshops, protecting children from harm was “everyone’s number one priority.”
She added: “The best way of doing that is by being open about child sexual exploitation, by discussing the risks and equipping communities and those who work with young people, with the right information so they can help young people avoid becoming victims and to create a zero tolerance within society for adults having sex with children.”
Speaking of the local community workshops Kieran Downey, Director of Women’s and Children’s Services and executive director of Social Work for the Western Trust, said protecting children was one of the most important things the Western Trust did, but could not stamp out this “horrendous” abuse without the help of the wider community.
He added: “Everyone has a role in preventing child sexual exploitation from occurring and in helping to safeguard children.
“Raising awareness of this type of abuse is essential to preventing it and stopping it early when it does happen.
“These workshops gave practical advice and information to help shine a light on a problem that has remained in the dark for too long. The speakers emphasized the very real difficulties facing young people today and us all in recognizing a potential abuse scenario.”
Jacqui Montgomery-Devlin, from Barnardo’s NI said society was increasingly becoming aware of the issue of child sexual exploitation but more needed to be done to highlight the dangers to enable young people, parents, carers and professionals to spot the warning signs.
She added: “Young people also need support in making safe choices around relationships and to be aware that there are those who will want to manipulate and control them in order to sexually exploit them.”
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