Since Open Forum Events ran its inaugural conference focusing on Child Sexual Exploitation in 2015, there has a been increased awareness throughout society of the abuse and exploitation of children by perpetrators, however, in many instances it is still hidden from view and goes unnoticed. The Preventing Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation conference will bring together key stakeholders with safeguarding and child protection responsibilities, to examine the current situation, discuss recent initiatives and share best practice in protecting children from harm.
The majority of child sexual abuse takes place within a family setting by a person known to the child, whereas sexual exploitation typically occurs outside of the family and the abuser grooms the child to engage in sexual activity in return for something.
According to police-recorded crime data there has been a 10% increase in the number of child sexual exploitation crimes within the last year. In England and Wales during 2021/22 there were 17,486 crimes logged by police where children had been sexually exploited – an average of 48 offences a day.
Figures also reveal that there has been an increase in the number of recorded cases of Child Sexual Abuse to record levels. During 2021-22 the number of social care assessments identifying Child Sexual Abuse as a concern was nearly 34,000 indicating a 15% increase. Whilst the increase may reflect improved child protection and safeguarding awareness, there are many more unaccounted victims of sexual abuse who are unable to get help and are left unprotected.
The impacts of abuse and exploitation are far reaching and everyone who comes into contact with children has a duty to protect them from such harm and the Preventing Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation conference will provide a platform to explore how this can be achieved.
Delegates will benefit from an agenda of informative plenary presentations, interactive panel sessions and informal networking with peers and fellow professionals.
Book today to secure your place.
This conference is designed to induce change with knowledge, innovation, and inspiration.
Any transformation of a process or service requires the input of products and services devised to make improvements such as digital technologies; training provision; workforce planning; outsourced services; data and analytics etc.
If your organisation supports change through your products and services, our delegates and conference participants will be ready to engage with you.
Speaker TBC, The Maggie Oliver Foundation (confirmed)
A survivor's story
Dr Sophie Laws, Deputy Director, Research & Evaluation, Centre of Expertise on Child Sexual Abuse (invited)
To tackle child sexual abuse, there needs to be greater understanding of how it manifests itself with improved awareness of the causes, scale, and impact on victims. Despite greater recognition of child sexual abuse, with increasing numbers of cases identified, there continues to be invisibility in identifying and responding to risk.
This presentation will look at the crossovers between different various forms of exploitation, look to break down some of the concerns staff when it's difficult to address cases where there is a range of exploitative activities taking place, draw out some emerging issues and good practice from the audience, then feed back with some very practical practice development proposals that could improve the sector response to multi-exploitation.
Allocated planned time for speakers to receive questions from the audience and induce further discussion.
This session will seek to define sexting with the intention of understanding a typology model that addresses the ‘Why’ not ‘What’ of messages. The presentation will explore the theory of motivational determinants and will examine sexting incidence by age & sexual orientation, heritage, ethnicity, and faith. Finally, the role of the in-school support by the safeguarding team will be considered.
This presentation will highlight recurrent themes – helpful and unhelpful – in public discourse about online child grooming, with a particular focus on discourse from charities and organisations whose goal is to help victims of what is sometimes termed ‘technology-facilitated abuse'. It will conclude with some suggestions about improving our collective understanding and language when it comes to online child sexual exploitation.
A hot, two-course lunch consisting of multiple options will be provided for delegates. We cater for all dietary requirements, including vegetarian, vegan and gluten/dairy-free; just notify us ahead of time should you have any allergens or requirements.
Victoria Green, CEO, Marie Collins Foundation (invited)
Image-based sexual abuse (sometimes referred to as ‘revenge porn’) is a criminal offence. It’s when someone shares sexually explicit images or videos of another person without their consent, and with the aim of causing them distress or harm. Image based abuse has the impacts of non-image based sexual abuse and additional impacts.
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Pendulum Hotel & Manchester Conference Centre is the ideal solution when searching for conference venues in Manchester. Top-of-the-range conference suites, 3 star value hotel accommodation, delicious dining and friendly service are the ideal components for a successful conference or event in the heart of the city centre.
The 18 conference rooms are decked out with all the mod cons including state-of-the-art AV technology, projectors and screens, free Wi-Fi and flip charts. Our clients cover the whole spectrum and include government organisations, trade unions, large corporate companies, non-profit organisations, health and education sectors and small to medium-sized businesses.
From the get-go we strive for excellence in everything we do and our dedicated team of conference professionals go all out to make sure your conference, event or exhibition runs like clockwork.
Child Protection Committee Members
Community Safety Teams
Crown Prosecution Service Officers
Directors of Residential Children’s Homes
Directors/Heads Children and Young People’s
Directors/Heads of Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hubs (MASH)
Directors/Heads Social Services
Early Intervention Teams
Family Support Teams
Heads of Child Protection Teams
Heads of Education Welfare, Behaviour and Attendance Teams
Heads of Homelessness Teams
Heads of Looked After Children Teams
Heads of Public Protection Divisions
Heads of Pupil Referral Unit Teams
Heads/Directors of Children and Young People’s Health Teams
Headteachers
Members of Health and Wellbeing Boards
Members of Local Safeguarding Children Boards
Missing Persons Coordinators
Public Protection Officers
Senior Police Officers
Social Workers
Troubled Families Coordinators
Youth Workers
