Children and teens in the care of the State are being targeted and sexually exploited in an "organised manner" by coordinated gangs of predatory men, a new report has revealed.
UCD's Sexual Exploitation Research Programme (SERP) disturbing report stated that girls, some as young as 12, are main target victims. Based on interviews with stakeholders working with children, it was also uncovered that the predators use hotels across the country as locations for the sexual exploitation, with hoteliers described as "feeling ill-equipped to deal with and report what they are encountering".
Researchers found evidence of predators grooming children and waiting at accommodation centres, including in hotel lobbies. SERP researcher Ruth Breslin told RTE's Morning Ireland: "We heard about situations where cars would be lining up at night outside residential care homes.
"We heard of girls in particular going missing, for a number of days sometimes from care homes and coming back in what professionals essentially described as 'quite a bad state', perhaps they were under the influence of drugs or alcohol and something very serious had happened to them during that time - they had been raped, they had been sexually assaulted."
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However, it is sometimes difficult for professionals to identify that this is what happened. Ms Breslin explained: “What's happening with some of these young girls is that they're saying, ‘I'm going out with my boyfriend, this is my boyfriend, this is somebody who loves me, he cares for me, he buys me presents, he's very generous’.
"And really what is, is a predator targeting that young person and really praying on their vulnerability and drawing them in and perhaps praying on the fact that they may already have been abused even as a younger child and they're looking for care and attention and affection.”
The report also highlights cases of young girls in State care being coerced or enticed to provide sex acts to multiple men in exchange for a variety of goods. Tusla has begun to address this in its plans to adopt a multi-agency, cross-community response to deal with the complexity of the risks of sexual exploitation that exist for children in its care.
The study also highlights the explosion of online sexual exploitation of children and young people in recent years, linked with the increased use of smart phones and social media. Many of the incidents of online sexual exploitation reported started as sharing self-generated sexual abuse imagery for a small ‘reward’.
However, in nearly all cases reported, the exploitation escalated to extortion, intimidation or more widespread sharing of images across several platforms without the child or young person’s knowledge. Ms Breslin said more training, understanding and awareness of the risks are needed, adding: "Professionals need to have uncomfortable conversations about the issues."
She also calls for HIQA to react urgently and quickly to any cases of suspected child exploitation among residents of State care homes. Meanwhile, the report also calls for a new National Policy on the protection of children with sexual exploitation also included in the 'Children's First Guidelines'.
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