London charity sees younger, addicted prostitutes

[sam]

Girls of 11 fund drug habits as prostitutes
Islington Gazette

nlnews@archant.co.uk
30 August 2006

GIRLS as young as 11 years old are turning to prostitution to fund their drug habits.

Every year, hundreds of vulnerable girls disappear after getting caught up in a vicious circle of drug addiction and prostitution and severing all contact with their family and friends.

But one Holloway-based organisation's job is to track down these "invisible" girls and offer them a way out.

Children's charity Barnados set up The Young Women's Project in 1995 to help homeless woman under the age of 21.

In 1999 the focus shifted to girls, aged 11 to 18, who are at risk of being sexually exploited.

But just a few years on, project manager Gloria Stott has told of a worrying development which has seen the project come under increasing pressure to accept girls as young as eight.

She said: "The age of the girls we are able to work with remains constant however there does seem to be a worrying shift in terms of increasingly younger girls coming to our attention.

"This is forcing us to re-think the way we deliver some of our services because what is appropriate for a 15-year-old girl will not be appropriate for an eight-year-old."

The project is currently working with over 150 girls in Islington, Camden, Haringey and Hackney, who are either at extremely high risk of being exploited or are already being exploited, along with associated family problems and drug and alcohol addiction.

Ms Stott said: "The situations these kids are in are just horrific. Most of them don't have a network of safe adults in their life which makes them very vulnerable.

"You are alone on the street and then you meet this man who starts telling you how wonderful you are and giving you gifts and feeding you drugs and alcohol.

"Then they get hooked and have no choice but to have sex in order to feed their habit."

She added: "Our job is to identify these girls and gradually build a relationship with them.

"We are very often the only people who have regular contact with them and even then most of the time we have no way of knowing where they are and whether they are dead or alive.

"We may not see some girls for months on end but as long as they have a safe place they know they can come to, we will continue to support them and encourage them to break the link with their abuser.

"It is an extremely challenging job but we have some amazing success stories and even the smallest successes make it all worthwhile.

[annared]

Sam is there anywhere I can get the whole article, if you have time. Very close to my heart as I worked for six years with female substance misuses in a rehabilitation unit. The vast majority had been prostituted to fund their habit and I would like to cover it in my blog.

[sam]

Used to be when we hyperlinked the words would show up orange but since upgrading they don't. If you scroll over the words Islington Gazette above it will take you to the source.

[annared]

Thanks Sam