Safeguarding in adolescence: under-recognised and poorly addressed

Young women may be the victims of forced marriage or so-called honour-based violence 21 ; 40% of forced marriages reported in England involve a minor. 22 Gang membership makes young people vulnerable to involvement in violent crime, retaliatory violence, sexual violence and substance misuse. 1 Profe... Full description

Young women may be the victims of forced marriage or so-called honour-based violence 21 ; 40% of forced marriages reported in England involve a minor. 22 Gang membership makes young people vulnerable to involvement in violent crime, retaliatory violence, sexual violence and substance misuse. 1 Professionals rarely acknowledge the safeguarding needs of this group. Asylum-seeking and trafficked adolescents are vulnerable to multiple forms of maltreatment before and after they arrive in the UK 23 - 25 with opportunities to intervene often missed. 25 The placement of unaccompanied minors in unsupported housing (or detention) is in direct contravention of their entitlement to support under Article 20 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child 26 and section 20 of the Children Act 1989.\n 7 In reality, numerous barriers to disclosure exist: not knowing how to disclose, 17 greater awareness of the impact of disclosure 7 and anxieties around being disbelieved or placed in local authority care. 9 Young people may not understand that they have been or continue to be maltreated, 9 particularly in the case of neglect.