Four new workers for child sex crackdown

8:35am Tuesday 1st April 2008

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FOUR new workers are set to join Engage, the team set up to tackle child sexual exploitation in Blackburn.

The team of officers has been formed by the police, council, the Blackburn with Darwen Safeguarding Children Board and other young people's organisations.

And after being relaunched three weeks ago Engage will now take on an additional social worker, police officer and youth worker.

There are also plans to recruit a specialist health worker by the summer.

Engage is a successor to the police led campaign, Operation Engage, which targeted teenagers who were being groomed into prostitution and sexual exploitation.

The issue has been highlighted in the Lancashire Telegraph's high profile Keep Them Safe campaign, which began in 2006.

Gladys Rhodes, deputy director of children's services at Blackburn with Darwen Council, said: "The problem of sex grooming has been highlighted nationally and Blackburn with Darwen is at the forefront of efforts to tackle it.

"We are showing our ongoing commitment to Engage by putting in an additional full time social worker and a full time youth worker and the police are putting an extra full time detective constable into the team.

"A specialist health worker will add a new dimension to the team, enabling them to provide in-house' counselling for victims."