Rotherham grooming victim says children need specialist help and should be able to prosecute fathers.
Woodhouse, who under a pseudonym was one of the first Rotherham survivors to raise the alarm on the town’s grooming scandal, said: “It’s safe to say children conceived through abuse and rape have suffered enormously, so for me it’s a given. If they are seen as victims it could help such as bringing prosecutions forward if the mother doesn’t want to testify. It will give the children a voice and be recognised as an individual with rights within the law.”
“Despite being recognised as a victim of sexual exploitation in 2013, there was no advice, support in dealing with this for my son and I. In fact the opposite happened. Professionals actively encouraged my son to have a relationship with his rapist ‘father’. This has been the case for many women around the country.”
Stafford is particularly concerned that sometimes rapists are allowed to visit the children conceived via their crime. “Rapists should not have access to the child,” he said, adding: “This is an issue which is not party political. Let’s make material change to legislation.”