Determined to make a difference

TACKLING abuse head on:(l-r) Kelly Coleman, Justine Hughes and Eileen Mills

“THE attitude to child sexual exploitation in Oldham is mature, we don’t brush things under the carpet,” say members of the local team of experts.

“We don’t pretend they’re not happening. We tackle things head on,” says MASH, the group set up in 2006 to help victims of child sexual exploitation.

In its current form, MASH — made up of police, social workers, health workers, victim support volunteers and domestic violence and drugs specialists — works to identify potential victims and to intervene

Oldham’s manager for children’s social care Justine Hughes and her team are the frontline workers whp take calls from professionals keen to raise concerns over the treatment of specific children.

Justine and her crew receive around 25 calls a day and decide on a course of action for each case within 24 hours.

Justine, who has done the job for six years, said: “Every call is a concern for a child so they are all taken seriously. Some calls require more serious action than others. If there is a child with an injury, or a child whose parents have been arrested, we have to act quickly to get that child sorted out.

“But I would like to think Oldham is on the ball at all times, not just when there is an issue raised. We are proactive in all areas, we don’t wait for something to hit the press and there are no knee-jerk reactions.”

Kelly Coleman is an independent sexual violence adviser with the ROSE (Risk Of Sexual Exploitation) team. She joined MASH 10 months ago. ROSE aims to get to potential victims of exploitation before the abuse has started.

She said: “The children I deal with have been referred for a variety of reasons. I make them feel as comfortable as possible and we start to work on an assessment and the best course of action together. They are the ones in charge and it is they who decide what happens next. We don’t want to wait until someone has already been abused before we act.”

Eileen Mills works for Pennine Care Foundation Trust and is based within the MASH team at Oldham Civic Centre.

She said: “We work to support families and direct them to the most appropriate service to meet their needs. It’s great to know we are making a difference. The joined-up approach to tackling child sexual exploitation in Oldham is essential. The communication between the various departments which make up MASH enables us to share information in the most effective way possible.”