Charity calls for greater media awareness of child-on-child sexual abuse

A charity working to prevent child sexual abuse has echoed calls for increased awareness of child-on-child sexual assault.

The Lucy Faithfull Foundation has called for more attention to be paid in the media towards child-on-child sexual abuse following BBC Panaroma’s report on the issue.

Matt Whitticase, Media and Communications Manager at the Lucy Faithfull Foundation, said: “The issue is that most people here in the UK just don’t think about it (child-on-child abuse). When they think of child sexual abuse they usually think of gangs and the type of people who get reported on in the news.

“The danger is that people assume that perpetrators are all ‘stranger danger’ and that means that they can take their eyes off the people and the groups who are more likely to commit child sexual abuse.”

The report, released on Monday, stated that that the number of reported sexual offences by under 18s against other under 18s in England and Wales rose by 71% from 4,603 between 2013–14, to 7,866 from 2016–17.

Mr Whitticase said: “For child protection experts, it will not come as a surprise that the number of children abusing other children will be high.

“I think people are aware that it (child-on-child abuse) is happening. In a post Jimmy Savile world, we have become much more aware of the scale of abuse that is happening.”