The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse found ‘major failings’ in how Warwickshire County Council (WCC) and Warwickshire Police identified and protected sexually exploited children in care.
It said the girl, who was 13 when taken into foster care in 2016, was placed in a succession of 14 ‘unsuitable’ placements while ‘the risks of placing her in proximity to offenders were ignored’.
The girl – identified as CS-A1 in the report – was sexually exploited by older men after a girl she was placed with introduced her to a network of abusers.
WCC, which disagreed with Warwickshire Police’s belief that she should be placed outside the area to protect her, took two years to provide ‘a suitable protective placement’.
Despite CS-A1’s family warning she was at high risk of sexual exploitation in 2016, the council did not agree until May 2017.
The report added: “It appears Warwickshire Police conducted little, if any, analysis of the extent to which child sexual exploitation was being committed by groups or networks.”
CS-A1’s mother said she was pleased the report had recognised the ‘systematic failings of multi-agency risk assessment and police tactics’, and had recommended reforms to improve multi-agency working.
They said: “The inquiry has recognised and accepted the failings of Warwickshire Police to both take child sexual abuse (CSE) seriously and to know how to deal with it effectively.
“But there is no reference to the complete failures of the Local Safeguarding Board in Warwickshire to identify and deal with CSE, no reference to lowering the overall threshold for charging perpetrators, and finally no reference to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) and its ability and relevance to hold Warwickshire Police to account when they were clearly failing.
“We call upon the Chief Constable of Warwickshire Police to take these findings on board and to make important changes in order to better protect Warwickshire children from CSE.”
The report also identified that victim-blaming language was challenged and managed, a progressive approach to risk assessment had improved professional judgement, and WCC had engaged the Tackling Child Exploitation Support Programme to help improve its service.
The multi-agency ‘Something’s Not Right’ campaign to increase awareness of sexual exploitation was also praised.
Supt Pete Hill, Warwickshire Police’s head of vulnerability and safeguarding, said the findings would be ‘invaluable’ in improving child protection.
He said: “The report has identified areas for improvement which we are keen to learn from. Many of these issues had already been identified and improvements have already been made.
“Child abusers prey on some of the most vulnerable members of our community and we are committed to making sure they have no place to hide in Warwickshire.”
A WCC spokesperson said: “We acknowledge shortcomings around a case in 2017. We have made significant changes to our practice since this time.
“We will not be complacent in our work and our awareness raising. We will consider the findings of the report carefully and look to embed them to continue to make improvements to our practice.
“We are pleased to see the report highlights our progressive approach to risk-assessment, our well-established audit and review processes, our empathy for victims and our strong partnership approach to raise awareness about, identify and tackle child sexual exploitation.”
