The emphasis in the reporting of the Rochdale abuse cases earlier this week was quite rightly on the perpetrators of the abuse and the expected criminal sentences.
The Press spotlight however, now, has now fallen on the role the Police and Social Services played and why these children were not protected.
Of particular interest is an article that appeared in the Daily Telegraph last week (10th May) where the mother of three girls who were involved in the paedophile ring spoke out about the failures of the local Social Services Department.
The Daily Telegraph exclusively spoke to the mother of Girl F who confirmed that she wanted all three of her children put into Child Protection. She suggested that she had called Social Services on at least eight or nine occasions to warn them about what was happening and asked them to intervene. She indicated that Social Services had also had lots of other referrals from people like the Health Visitors.
From my many years of dealing with abuse cases my instinct is that the victims in Rochdale will have good potential actions for damages against Social Services who have clearly let them down.
At Farleys we have a department specialising in this area of work and already have instructions from one of the victims to look at pursuing a claim for damages and compensation for the abuse suffered. Money can never make up for what the victims of abuse go through but at least we are here and able to help in obtaining compensation awards for these badly mistreated children.
If you have been the victim of abuse and would like to speak to an expert in this area, please do not hesitate to get in contact with us. Our team are able to advise you in confidence about the process of making a claim.
By Jonathan Bridge, Abuse Claim Solicitor