- Senator calls for a local hotline to help people with sexual urges towards children
- Nationally the Stop It Now! helpline is run by the Lucy Faithfull Foundation
- Should there be more support for potential child abusers to get help? Take part in our poll
- What is the Lucy Faithfull Foundation? Find out more below
CALLS have been made for the setting up of a hotline which helps people with sexual urges towards children and which offers advice to parents and carers about abuse.
Senator Zoe Cameron has asked the Council of Ministers to consider having a confidential ‘Stop It Now!’ helpline in the Island as part of the States’ mental health strategy.
The campaign, which has been running for more than 12 years, raises awareness about child sexual abuse and offers a helpline for people with concerns about the behaviour of another person, or is worried they may have the urge to abuse children themselves.
The hotline was set up by the Lucy Faithfull Foundation, a charity dedicated to reducing the risk of children being sexually abused.
Earlier this year figures obtained by the JEP revealed that at least six Islanders who had suppressed urges towards children had called the Stop It Now! UK and Ireland helpline.
- The Lucy Faithfull Foundation believes that child sexual abuse is preventable and that we can have a society where children are free from sexual abuse and exploitation.
- Our purpose is to safeguard children and young people from sexual abuse by preventing it and responding to it.
- Our vision is of a society where children are free from sexual abuse and exploitation.
- Our mission is to prevent abuse from happening by working in partnership with voluntary and statutory sector professionals as well as the general public.[/breakout]
Now, Senator Cameron, who is due to take on a 100-mile charity cycle with her husband, Innes, to raise money for the Stop It Now! campaign on 2 August, is calling for similar services to be set up in Jersey.
‘I have raised this with the Council of Ministers,’ she said.
‘I’m told my ideas will be taken into account, but the final detail of the Mental Health Strategy has not yet been worked out.
‘Criminalising this kind of behaviour just drives it underground and prevents people from asking for help.’
Senator Cameron trained with Donald Findlater, a director of Stop It Now! UK and Ireland and a director of research and development with the Lucy Faithfull Foundation.
He said he would welcome the chance to introduce a helpline in Jersey.
‘There are two components to Stop It Now!’ he added.
‘One is distributing information, posters and leaflets, and the other is talking about the issue of child sexual abuse so that parents, carers and neighbours know what to look out for.
‘People might be worried about some behaviour they have seen, but they might not have a confirmed allegation.
‘We also have a helpline staffed by former police officers, psychologists and teachers.
‘They talk to members of the public about anything they have seen that they are worried about.
‘Some callers phone up about themselves – 45 per cent of the calls we get are from people who are worried about themselves.’
Mr Findlater explained that the Stop It Now! line had received 50,000 calls over the last two years and was currently fielding about 800 calls a month.
‘I would love to come and explore the opportunities available in Jersey and the other Channel Islands to develop a Stop It Now campaign and helpline,’ he added.
Anyone who wants to donate to Senator Cameron’s cycle challenge in support of the campaign can do so by visiting uk.virginmoneygiving.com/team/InnesAndZoe.
The States police direct anyone who believes they may have a problem to the UK-based Lucy Faithful Foundation, which runs the StopItNow hotline which several Islanders have contacted.
And the Health Department say they have no provisions in place to deal with Islanders who have sexual thoughts about children.
But now the Probation Service say they can help and are are urging people with any hidden problems, including paedophilic tendencies, to contact them immediately
Probation:
PRE-EMPTIVE support for Islanders who have sexual urges towards children may not be well publicised enough, according to one of the head probation workers in the Island.
David Trott, team leader at the Jersey Probation Service, said that since 2006 they have offered specialist support to Islanders who have sexual urges towards children whether they have committed a crime or not.
However, it is not believed that anyone has used the service to address paedophilic tenancies before committing a crime.
James Lynch, one of 11 probation officers in the Island, agreed and said that the Probation Service have a duty of care to all Islanders.
He added that the rise of the internet had provided a portal to people who have sexual urges to act upon them.
‘The message we want to give out is that there is an open door policy. If someone walks through the door and says they are having sexual urges toward children, they are going to hurt their partner or they have problem with drug abuse then we will help.’
Mr Trott added: ‘We cannot offer absolute confidentiality. If we received information about previous crimes that were unknown we would have to pass that onto the police.
‘If someone came in and said “can I see a probation officer – I am really concerned about what is going on in my head sexually” we would sit down and listen.
‘We would go through a similar process of assessment that we would for people who have come out of prison.’
The sex offender:
CHRIS is a sex offender.
He has served time in La Moye Prison for downloading indecent images of children – although the exact details of his offence have not been revealed.
They were issues that eventually tore his life apart. Since his conviction Chris, who is a father, has lost everything – his family and his friends have all turned their back on him.
He is no doubt that if he had been aware of a pre-emptive service where he could go and speak about his demons in confidence it may have changed his life.
‘I realise actions that I pursued were against the law. But if there was a body set up that I knew I could go to that is totally away from anyone that could cause me repercussions then that would be absolutely beneficial.
Asked if he was attracted to children, Chris said: ‘It is a very debatable. What is sexuality? I could never say 100 per cent yes I am or no I am not.’
The psychologist:
‘PREVENTION is always better than cure and anything we can do to stop the potential harm to children is a good thing.’
Those are the words of Dr David Briggs, a specialist forensic psychologist who offers training and support to probation staff across Britain, including Jersey.
Dr Briggs, who is based in the UK, has been mentoring probation officers in the Island since 2006 on the techniques to rehabilitate both convicted child sex offenders and those who may not have committed a crime but contact the service in a desperate plea for help because they are having sexual thoughts about children.
And he has a message for Islanders who believe they may have a problem.
‘If anyone who believes they have a problem should read this I would urge them to come forward, make contact and seek help,’ he said.
‘It is not something we can be relaxed about, ignore or shy away from. The reality is that there are people in our society who have sexual thoughts towards children who occasionally have urges to act on those thoughts and it is our moral obligation to help them.
‘Clearly there is a wide abhorrence of any child being molested or abused but I think there is an element of society that appreciates the fact that this is not necessarily just a select few people who have these urges.’
Dr Briggs, who has published a book called Managing Men Who Sexually Abuse, said he had no reason to discredit previously reported figures that suggest as many 1,000 men in the Island could be hiding sexual attractions to children.
‘I think as a society we are encouraging more open discussion of paedophilia and we are beginning to see evidence that we can make an impact,’ he added.
Dr Briggs, who praised Jersey’s Probation Service as one of the most dedicated he has ever seen, said research is starting to come to light to show that there may be a biological predisposition to paedophilia.
He said that, combined with issues of neglect, maltreatment or sexual trauma in a person’s childhood were factors behind why some people develop and act on sexual urges toward children.
‘We can’t ignore the victim not least because we want to deal with their immediate trauma but also because we don’t want them to go on and become abusers,’ he added.
