'World first' scheme in Yorkshire helps disabled children recover from sexual abuse

Letting The Future In helps children aged four to 19 who have suffered sexual abuse with counselling tailored specifically to their complex needs.

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The programme pays particular attention to the child’s preferred way of communicating, with more emphasis on creative play, art and drama. It also allows more time for the therapy to be run at the young person’s pace.

One in 20 children in the UK experience sexual abuse, the impact of which can be devastating.

Children with learning disabilities are at a greater risk of sexual abuse and can take more time to disclose it.

They may have more difficulty understanding that what has happened to them is sexual abuse, or communicating their experience.

The centre in Sheffield has a range of toys, music instruments and chairs to help children feel at home and to use in their therapy.

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Emily Grobler, team manager in Sheffield, said: “I think with sexual abuse children can feel like they can’t recover from it, that it’s something that’s happened to them, and they might never feel better. But actually what our work shows is that they can and that they can really recover from what they’ve been through.”

Ms Grobler said the NSPCC also works closely with the council and other organisations locally.

She said: “Sometimes a child is struggling in school, they might be struggling with concentration or getting into trouble. We'll work with the staff at that school to try and help them understand what that child’s been through and why they might be displaying those behaviours.”

Though the service varies depending on the needs of the child, it is measured scientifically, with early results showing it has been very successful.

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Karen Bates, service centre manager, said: “It’s the first randomised trial of any sex abuse service of its kind in the world, which I think is really impressive. We have a mixture of therapeutically trained staff and social workers who work with children. We can see the impact of what we do as we have shown that (children’s) outcomes have improved by using this approach.”

The charity want to share the knowledge with other professionals across the country

“By our good practice we can either scale up so other local authorities can start their own Letting The Future In services, or get the funding together.

“Everything we do we back up with learning, we show that it works and hopefully other authorities can take it on,” she added.