The Labour Government is set to vote against setting a target of reducing child abuse, neglect, and other adverse childhood experiences by 70% by 2030.
In a debate tomorrow, the Welsh Conservatives will lead a debate that also asks the Senedd to focus on prevention, rather than have to deal with outcomes, and recognise the impact that adverse childhood experiences have on health, educational attainment, and substance abuse later on in life.
The 70% by 2030 target is supported by the Welsh Conservatives after it was pushed by WAVE Trust, “an international charity, dedicated to making the world safer by reducing the root causes of violence, including child abuse, neglect and domestic violence”.
Labour ministers have laid an amendment to the Conservative motion that removes the target.
Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are prevalent in the Welsh population: in 2015, Public Health Wales found that a substantial proportion of the Welsh population had suffered abuse, neglect and other ACEs during their childhood, with 47% of their survey respondents reporting having experienced at least one ACE and 14% experiencing four or more ACEs.
Of those who had experienced ACEs, verbal abuse is the most common, with nearly 1-in-4 (23%) having been verbally abused. A further 17% experienced physical abuse and 1-in-10 suffered sexual abuse. Within those households, 20% had parental separation, 16% had domestic violence and 14% lived in households with some form of mental illness.
ACEs relate directly to the number of children who are being looked after by local authorities. According to the NSPCC finding that, before the pandemic, Wales had 108.7 looked after children per 10,000 of the under-18 population, more than England and Northern Ireland.
Concerns have been raised that lockdowns exacerbated ACEs, with the NSPCC reporting a 12% increase in calls to their helplines, from children trapped in abusive households.
Commenting, Welsh Conservative and Shadow Social Services Minister Gareth Davies MS said:
“Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) not only raise the risk factors for poor physical and mental health – as well as the likelihood of poorer educational outcomes, increased risk of violence, and early pregnancy – they can increase the risk of early death too.
“ACEs also raise the possibility of children and young people being taken into care, further depreciating their potential life outcomes relative to those raised in stable families. Reducing ACEs can significantly reduce the number of looked-after children, the use of illicit substances, and the risk of incarceration and violence.
“Successive Labour Governments, although well-meaning with many programmes to support early intervention and prevent children going into care, have not made a significant impact to lower ACEs or the number of looked-after children, despite proclaiming both areas as a priority.
“Therefore, it is disappointing that Labour could not face adopting the target and I am privileged to argue in favour of the WAVE Trust’s ambition for a 70% reduction in ACEs by the end of the decade. We have to go beyond good intentions and deliver in this important, yet forgotten, area.”
