Children who serve

Parental vulnerability often results in children being chronically neglected. Social predators pursue the vulnerable. They watch these children on the estates, aimlessly walking about the streets; they befriend them, and then use them.

NSPCC figures indicate that one in five children are abused. The latest child poverty figures indicate one in ten children in London are living in exceptional poverty. Benefit levels are too low and sometimes parental addiction results in parents abusing the household money. It is hunger of the belly and emotional hunger which creates the cycle of abuse. This boy was raped before the age of eleven. He was sexually abused at three and at nine. It began in the family home and spread out onto the streets. The child is unprotected because there is no functioning adult.

Most children are abused by a relative or adult known to them. It is a catastrophic betrayal of trust which shatters the self beyond repair. The angels of civil society contributed to his life by paying for sex. However, one of them, upon finding that this boy had turned to Kids Company for help sent us an anonymous donation. This is a young man, who despite having not completed secondary school, within a year had caught up at college and received five university offers to study law and psychology. With thoughtful help so much can be achieved.