Minister announces plans for new regional co-ordinator postsWednesday, 9th October 2013
Frances Fitzgerald TD, Minister for Children & Youth Affairs has today committed to the development of a coordinated national approach for sexual abuse services for children and young people including the recruitment of new regional coordinators posts.
The Minister was speaking at the AGM of the Rape Crisis Network of Ireland which also saw the launch of major new report on data on sexual violence.
The Report entitled ‘Hearing child survivors of sexual violence - Towards a national response’ indicated that:
- In 2012, Rape Crisis Centres (RCCs) and Children At Risk in Ireland (CARI) provided services for 192 minors ranging in age from 4 to 17 years old.
- 67% of child survivors accessing services. were 16 or 17 years old, 26% were 14 or 15 years old, 4% were 11-13 years old, 4% were under 10 years old in 2012.
- Rape was the most commonly experienced type of sexual violence, with 60% of incidents involving an assault of this type.
- 65% of incidents of abuse of child survivors were perpetrated by a single individual on a single occasion.
- 37% of the perpetrators of sexual abuse against child survivors were under themselves 18 years old.
Responding to finding Minister Fitzgerald stated that “while we have been horrified over historic abuse this report forces recognition of current abuse and highlights yet again that the horror of abuse remains part of the tragic experience of too many Irish children.”
The Minister added: “We have come out of a century-long dark place, when it comes to child sexual abuse. So much attention has rightly been given to the past atrocities against Ireland’s children that there’s a danger of us drawing a line in the sand where no line should be drawn. That we have addressed past horrors should not distract from the reality that the present carries its own horrors for our children. The present brings suffering, and fear and confusion to sexually abused children. It is, sadly, not just an historic issue.”
Addressing the event, Minister Fitzgerald committed to the development of a coordinated national approach for sexual abuse services for children and young people including the recruitment of new regional coordinator posts.
The Minister stated: “The first priority must be better coordination of services to ensure that the children who need them get the best possible wrap-around response available. Today I wish to confirm that I have asked the HSE to proceed with filling of four posts of regional coordinators for services for victim of child abuse. I see this as a critical step in delivering on the objectives of Ferns 4 and to develop the ‘coordinated national approach’ we so often speak of.”
The Minister also announced that the HSE is also to fill four posts of regional coordinators for services for children demonstrating sexually harmful behaviour. The Minister stated “I note from the report published today that 37% of perpetrators of sexual violence against child survivors were themselves aged under 18. This recruitment delivers on a key recommendation of Ferns 5.”
The Minister welcomed the plans, as part of the current HSE Capital Funding Programme, to build a new Medical Forensic Service at Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital in Crumlin; and the allocation of funding for increased training, at UCD, for Paediatricians to deal with sexual assault and forensic assessment.
The Minister concluded: “I look forward to the Ferns 4 steering committee finalising its report shortly as I know its recommendations will play a pivotal role in guiding decisions on future service developments. I will be working closely with Gordon Jeyes to move quickly to implementing what we can.”