The Isle of Man’s Safeguarding Board has detailed its ongoing efforts to protect children and vulnerable adults from exploitation, neglect and abuse.
It revealed that latest figures show 59 children are at risk of criminal exploitation and 16 at risk of sexual exploitation in 2024.
Christine Impey, Director of Multi-Agency Safeguarding, revealed significant developments in combating child exploitation.
She said: “We have established membership of an all-age exploitation subgroup. Our priorities initially have been to work on the areas within the sphere of child exploitation, both criminal and sexual.”
The board has commissioned a project lead to develop new multi-agency protocols, with Ms Impey confirming: “We have completed that first tranche in terms of the multi-agency partners and the steering group have now completed their co-production of a new set of working protocols, tools and pathways.
Patterns
Leslie Walker, Independent Chair of the Safeguarding Board, highlighted shifting patterns in case identification.
She said: “Previously and historically, concerns were about children who were looked after or cared for, but we’ve seen a switch in terms of now a real increase in children who have been identified within the community.
“This does suggest the recognition and reporting has significantly improved.”
Addressing Self-Neglect
A major scrutiny review followed seven tragic deaths involving self-neglect cases.
Ms Walker shared powerful testimony from one service user: “I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for the staff that have wrapped around me. The difference they’ve made to myself and my family has been totally significant.”
However, she raised concerns about service capacity: “We don’t have a significant and joined up early help offer on the island. There are gaps in terms of the offers there that I know agencies are working to develop.”
Financial Exploitation Concerns
The board reported progress in tackling financial abuse of vulnerable adults, though acknowledged limitations in reaching older audiences.
Ms Impey said: “We’ve had social media campaigns around financial abuse sent through our platforms. We repeatedly promote awareness raising throughout the year.”
When questioned about traditional media outreach, she conceded: “We have talked about that, and I guess it’s fair to say we haven’t progressed that beyond discussion.”
Board Membership and Third Sector Engagement
Recent regulatory changes have enabled three new board member appointments.
Ms Walker said: “We are happy to say that we have managed to recruit three new board members who will attend their first board following induction. We got a good range of candidates with strong safeguarding experience.”
However she also acknowledged challenges: “There is no one mechanism that is a route into the sector which does create some challenges in terms of spreading the message.”
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