Barnardo’s is a leading charity who work tirelessly to transform the lives of vulnerable children and young people. They believe in the abused, the most vulnerable, the forgotten and the neglected – they support them and stand up for them to bring out the best in each and every child.

In 2015, Barnardo’s helped 3,200 vulnerable children, compared with 1,190 in 2010. There has been a notable surge in helpless children coming forward to seek help following sexual abuse – this has seen a demand for services more than double in the past 5 years. The rise we have seen in recent years following high profile sexual abuse cases has no doubt contributed to this. Naturally, further funding is required to meet this demand and the Charity have commented that it needs to raise an extra £500,000 to cope with the UK-wide increase in demand for its services. Barnardo’s opened 11 new services in 2015, but this is reported to still be nowhere enough to meet demand.

Chief Executive, Javed Khan commented that: “Everywhere we go, we find more young people needing our services”.

The Charity have revealed some startling statistics and calculates that one in ten children will experience some degree of sexual abuse in their lifetime, many abusers are well known to those they abuse and fewer than 10% of abused children are abused by strangers. Studies also revealed that adult abusers revealed averages of up to 380 crimes per offender.

Barnardo’s are constantly campaigning to give vulnerable children the ability and tools to move on with their lives. One of their most prominent campaigns in recent months has been an attempt to raise awareness for childhood sexual exploitation, and push for the Courts to treat victims as children in the Courtroom. This is clearly a fierce hurdle to try and overcome.

Here at Farleys we have a specialist and dedicated team of solicitors who can advise and assist you on claims arising from abuse. We have an enviable record in successfully pursuing Criminal Injuries Compensation Claims as well as claims against individuals and establishments/local authorities, even when these claims are significantly out of time and statute barred. For initial advice on making a claim, please contact us.