Our long standing history of working with victims/survivors of grooming meant that the Casey report did not bring many surprises, unfortunately.
First and foremost, we are grateful to those victims and agencies who helped bring this audit about, resulting in much needed attention to this horrific crime. We also endorse the 12 actions recommended, including the need for a national enquiry, greater coordination and information sharing, changes to the law and how CSE crimes are approached by law enforcement agencies, the improvement of data gathering and a review of criminal convictions of CSE victims. Basis commits to holding those responsible accountable for their implementation.
While we welcome the outrage against these horrific crimes (“multiple sexual assaults committed against children by multiple men on multiple occasions; beatings and gang rapes”) we also know that society still too often blames the victim. This is particularly the case when children and young people are too scared to disclose their experiences and instead respond through behaviour; going missing, gang involvement etc. Too often, young people, particularly those over 16 are assumed old enough to carry this risk themselves, when in reality they are still children (ie under 18) and deserve the right to protection, not blame.
While the narrative in some of the media has appeared to suggest that grooming happened in the past, we must emphasize, as Baroness Casey has done that this is still the reality for many victims today; our service is currently oversubscribed, with victims having to wait for support, for many this means the abuse continues, despite the support from a number of funders. An increasing focus on child exploitation, (county lines) which is often more visible, may come at the expense of the more hidden sexual exploitation, which may also be contributing to the lesser focus and fewer resources for CSE these days. As well as needing to wait for support, thresholds within the local authority are so high due to stretched budgets, as services are unable to sufficiently safeguard and support, particularly at early stages and during long criminal justice investigations.
It’s also important to highlight that group based grooming is only one form of child sexual exploitation and we hope that the findings of the report and any actions taken aren’t at the expense of other victims of CSE; they all need our support. Therefore we welcome the call for a balance between the extent and cost of the enquiry, particularly due to the risk that might come at the expense of support for current and former victims, while still ensuring past and current injustice and poor practice is called out. We also want to ensure that wherever possible there remains a focus on awareness raising and early intervention for young people to prevent long term harm, though we also recognise that child sexual exploitation is unlikely to ever be fully preventable.
Finally, while we recognise and welcome the call for more accurate data, we caution against stereotypes of a “typical” preparator or victim/survivor. As an example, the report refers to men as perpetrators and girls as victims, while we know that men and young boys are also the victim/survivor (even if numbers are lower). An over-reliance on such stereotypes places victims and perpetrators who do not meet the stereotype based on race, gender, class, sexuality or other characteristics at even greater risk.
While our current waiting list for young people is closed (due to staff shortage), we also run dedicated youth groups for those ages 15-25 who have experienced or are at risk of child sexual abuse/exploitation.
If you or a young person you know would benefit from support around experience or risk of sexual exploitation, please contact us:
0113 243 0036 or Esme.Bradley@basisyorkshire.org.uk for more about our young people groups, or ypreferrals@basisyorkshire.org.uk to directly submit a referral.
UPDATE (27/06/25): You can read the joint signed letter to Yvette Cooper on the After Exploitation website now.