Thursday 30 May 2019

How victims can report historic sexual abuse

A Barnet Eye reader contacted me today and asked me a very disturbing question “Ok rog do you no anyone who would pursue a historic child abuse case”. They went on to explain that the abuse happened to an adult family member when they were seven years old. I don’t know but as it is clearly a very serious issue, I called one of the legally qualified people who generously advises us when we need legal information. As this is important for many people who may not wish to contact me, I thought I’d share the response. I have to state I am not an expert and I am posting this as I felt it would potentially help people in crisis.

“If the person is over 18 and clear about what they want to do then they can call 101 or walk into a police station and ask to speak to someone privately. For further advice, for a child email/call NSPCC  help@nspcc.org.uk 0808 800 5000. Otherwise if its an adult male Survivors UK survivorsuk.org are well thought of.  For females try http://womanstrust.org.uk/

If the problem is to do with a member of Barnet Council staff this may help https://www.barnet.gov.uk/children-and-families/keeping-children-safe/local-authority-designated-officer-lado

I do hope that if anyone out there needs this information then this has been helpful. Talking to trained counsellors and getting justice will be the first steps towards moving on.

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