Child protection issues and sexual health services in the UK.

182 Journal of Family Planning and Reproductive Health Care 2003: 29(4) The Victoria Climbie enquiry and subsequent report has brought the issue of child protection into sharp focus. For those of us working in contraception and sexual health, there can sometimes be conflict between professional codes of confidentiality, the expectations of the client/young person, a young person’s needs for sexual health services, and child protection guidance. We recently represented the Faculty of Family Planning and Reproductive Health Care (FFPRHC) and the British Association for Sexual Health and HIV (BASHH) [previously the Medical Society for the Study of Venereal Diseases (MSSVD)] at a working party of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) looking into Child Protection and Confidentiality. We contributed a paper outlining the dilemmas for our specialties. Much of this paper has been incorporated into a draft document submitted to the RCPCH, and it forms the basis for this editorial. Increasing numbers of young people aged under 18 years (children, as defined by the Children Act 1989)1 are sexually active, with the proportion of young people who report heterosexual intercourse before the age of 16 years rising in the 1990s compared with the previous decade.2 Sexual intercourse may be voluntary or may occur as a result of sexual abuse or sexual exploitation, all of which may co-exist. The age of consent for heterosexual and homosexual sex is 16 years in England, Wales and Scotland and 17 years in Northern Ireland. However, sexual exploitation, such as involvement in prostitution, remains a child protection issue until the young person reaches the age of 18 years. Children involved in sexual activity require input from sexual health services for: