Child sex abuse support service wait 'unacceptable'

A mother waiting for support for her children after her ex-husband was jailed for abusing them has said it was a "really dark time".

Her children, both under the age of 10 at the time, were unable to access counselling for seven months.

She has joined calls with the Children's Commissioner for Wales for better services to support children who have been sexually assaulted or raped.

The Welsh Government said it wants an all-Wales Traumatic Stress Service.

Her former husband was arrested for possessing indecent images of children, when police also discovered he had live streamed abuse of her children online.

But as he pleaded not guilty, the children could not access counselling for seven months.

A GP said her daughter was going through an experience similar to Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, and she said her son was "self-destructing".

"The only way I could calm her down was cwtching her on my lap underneath the sink in the bathroom," the child's mother said. "It was the only way I could stop her screaming.

"I was terrified because I knew [my son] couldn't keep going in the way he was," she said. "He wasn't my little boy, it was devastating to watch."

Following a guilty plea, they managed to access support fairly quickly.

"Both of my children now have a toolkit of strategies to use to help them when they're feeling anxious," she said.

"I don't think you can understand how vital these services are until you see the children they're helping. The number of children who have had horrific trauma in their lives is incredible.

"We have a duty as a society to be able to support them."

More than 550 children and young people are currently waiting for counselling following sexual abuse, with some waiting up to three years.

Commissioner Sally Holland has called on the Welsh Government to ensure children don't have to wait for support, or for a forensic medical examination.

There are eight sexual assault referral centres in Wales which provide forensic medical examinations, but only two - in Cardiff and Colwyn Bay - can examine children, due to a lack of suitably qualified and experienced staff.

"I am hearing of horrifying situations where children have had to wait for days to be examined and having to travel late at night to see someone following a horrific ordeal," she said. "This cannot be right.

"In one case this led to a four-year-old from mid Wales having to travel to Cardiff late in the evening, and wait several hours for a forensic medical examiner to arrive. By this time they were hungry, tired and less willing to be examined, making the whole process harder."

The Welsh Government said the care and needs of the victim should be paramount for all services.

"No adult or child should have to wait for services following any incident of sexual violence," a spokesman said.

He added that providing forensic medical examiners was not a devolved matter, though health boards are working closely with the police and its partners to meet the health care needs of victims.

"We have also commissioned a business case for the development of an all-Wales Traumatic Stress Service, which includes consideration of the provision of counselling to victims of sexual assault," he added.