[Omah]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-21363395

Some social workers, teachers and police fail to combat sexual offending by children because they miss warning signs, according to a report.

Probation inspectors in England and Wales found earlier inappropriate behaviour treated with "disbelief".

Government officials said they were "driving up the skills and experience of social workers".

The report studied 24 teenage boys with convictions ranging from indecent assaults to rape.

Inspectors visited six youth-offending teams in London's Tower Hamlets, Sheffield, Cornwall, Birmingham, Lancashire and Vale of Glamorgan.

They found opportunities to intervene when the offenders were younger had been missed in nearly every case.

Chief inspector of probation Liz Calderbank said: "The most shocking finding was that a third of cases had come to the notice of the authorities - usually either schools or social services - previously. These concerns were not acted on, dismissed, minimised or ignored.

"This, to us, represents a lost opportunity, both for the children themselves and their potential victims."

The inspectorate said questions were not being asked about why the children had been displaying sexual behaviour, some from quite a young age.

In one case, a boy had been displaying inappropriate behaviour from the age of eight before he went on to be convicted of a sexual offence at 16.

The cases were examined of 24 offenders, aged between 13 and 18, who between them had more than 60 convictions for sexual offences.

Almost all the crimes were committed against children.

The inspectors found that in all but one of the cases there had been issues relating to the boys' physical or mental health, 21 featured concerns relating to the family environment, and seven of the boys had previous offences.

One case involved a boy known to social services because he had been subjected to neglect and physical abuse, while a family history of sexual abuse and the presence of adult sex offenders in his home suggested(sic) he had also been sexually abused.

About 12% of sexual offences are committed by children aged between 10 and 17 years old.

I wonder, not just at the level of competence, but at the level of intelligence of some of these alleged child welfare specialists .....