THE Children’s Society is calling for a change in the law to protect more than 4,000 vulnerable teenagers in Yorkshire and the Humber from cruelty – including sexual exploitation.
Last year, according to official figures, 4,210 children aged 16 or 17 in Yorkshire and the Humber were deemed by social services to be “in need”, and therefore at greater risk of abuse and neglect. A total of 374 of these teenagers were in Bradford. The total for England was 42,260.
The criminal law for child cruelty, which dates back 80 years, only protects children from neglect or ill-treatment until their 16th birthday. It means children aged 16 and 17 are treated as adults and forced to fend for themselves.
Now the Children’s Society is asking MPs to close this loophole by extending protections against child cruelty when it debates the Serious Crime Bill early in the new year. The move would see the Children and Young Persons Act 1933 changed.
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