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| Boys 'increasingly targets for sexual abuse in Kirklees' |
Boys 'increasingly targets for sexual abuse in Kirklees'
Number of girls and boys at risk is rising, meeting told
The number of boys at risk from being sexually exploited in Kirklees is rising, councillors have been told.
The total number of boys and girls currently considered at risk is 73, a rise which may be linked to greater awareness and improved services.
A meeting of the council heard calls for an independent inquiry into historic child abuse in Kirklees as councillors debated the authority’s role in tackling abuse in the light of scandals in Rotherham and elsewhere.
Councillor Erin Hill, Cabinet member for Family Support and Child Protection, said a Dewsbury-based team of police and social workers was developing a ‘mapping’ strategy to help understand the relationship between young people and perpetrators.
A new detective sergeant joined the team in May to focus on the ‘mapping’ exercise which would aim to identify the locations where young people might be targeted by would-be abusers.
Clr Hill said the number of at-risk referrals for child sexual abuse was up and the authorities were dealing with more boys who had been identified as being at risk from grooming.
“It is notoriously under-reported,” said Clr Hill.
“Perpetrators are finding new ways to hide and young people are sometimes too scared to come forward.”
She said the Dewsbury hub was also dealing with issues around forced marriage and human trafficking.
The meeting was told ‘collaborative working’ between agencies had led to Operation Tendersea, the arrest of 43 alleged perpetrators of historical child sexual abuse in Kirklees.
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