UNITED KINGDOM
The Northern Echo
THE understanding most people have of online sexual abuse of children is like the activity itself – distant, intangible, even other worldly.
Hearing from a father who learned that his 13-year-old son had been groomed online then sexually assaulted by the perpetrators brought it dramatically into the present. The crime may be remote, but the victims are most certainly real.
Speaking at the launch of a pilot project aimed at improving support for children who have suffered sexual abuse online and their families, the dad revealed how he and his wife had noticed a change in their son’s behaviour. But it was only after his lengthy use of a laptop upstairs one evening, followed by his mum overhearing a telephone conversation in which he was arranging to meet someone, that the full truth emerged. …
Marie Collins, the survivor after whom the Foundation is named, was abused and photographed at the age of 13. She endured 30 years of depression, anxiety, panic attacks and numerous admissions to hospital before she found the right help to recover.
Today she says: “The photography had a much greater impact in terms of damage to me psychologically than the physical abuse. When you know there’s a photograph out there of your abuse it’s not a question of telling anyone about it but being terrified of anyone finding out or people thinking you’re complicit. I can only imagine how much worse it is for young people who are groomed into providing photographs online. You have to come to terms with the fact that those pictures are out there and you will never have control over what happens to them.”
Marie, who was appointed this year by Pope Francis to the Pontifical Council for the Protection of Minors, says it is vital that victims and their families get prompt and appropriate help. “There must be a coordinated response and cohesive treatment that forms a shell of support and protection around the victim and their family, because if the family don’t understand what’s going on they can’t help the child.
“Getting help early can save their lives.”
For more information, visit www.mariecollinsfoundation.org.uk
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