NEWS REVIEW
Government launches review into child safeguarding deaths’ The recent deaths of Arthur Labinjo-Hughes and Star Hobson have brought the entire nation’s focus onto the plight of abused children. This has been further highlighted by recent data which found that 36 children were killed in 2020 by mistreatment or neglect. The figures were collated from the Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel which investigates deaths of at-risk children, and show that on average, three children are killed by abusive families every month in England alone. The government has launched a national review of lessons to
be learnt from the tragic death of six-year-old Arthur LabinjoHughes, to be led by the chair of the Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel, Annie Hudson. In Dec 2021, 21 senior leaders from Christian denominations, safeguarding agencies and faith-based charities signed an open letter to the government pledging their support, cooperation, and expertise to the review. Justin Humphreys, CEO of Thirtyone:eight, who jointly coordinated the letter said “There are fewer tragedies
that occur in society that are more painful to contemplate than the death of a child. When a child's life is ended by the selfish and cruel acts of another person, we ought to be troubled to the core. The Church in the UK can and must take every opportunity to play a part in preventing the abuse of any child it has contact with. Standing together and reaching out into our communities to help create safer places we can make a difference - maybe just for one child or maybe for many. This is what we are called to do.” thirtyoneeight.org/openletter
Increase in children being targeted online The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) has warned that younger children are being targeted by online groomers “on an industrial scale”. Their research shows that in 2021, (and during the pandemic) the organisation acted against 252,000 URLs which contained images or videos of children being raped and suffering sexual abuse.
groomed and abused by criminals on an industrial scale. So often, this sexual abuse is happening in children’s bedrooms in family homes, with parents being wholly unaware of what is being done to their children by strangers with an internet connection.” “Parents need to be supported in knowing how to broach the topic with their children, and to give them the confidence to call out inappropriate behaviour when they see it.”
In total there were 361,000 reports, often arising from contact from members of the general public, of suspected criminal material and more than they dealt with in the entire first 15 years of their existence. Crucially, these figures include a disturbing increase in “self-generated” sexual imagery of young children. Children aged 11 to 13 remain the most targeted by groomers over selfgenerated content. Susie Hargreaves, chief executive of the IWF, said: “Children are being targeted, approached,
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