Miriam Cates: To properly protect children we need to be responsible grown ups and accept our failings so far

Miriam Cates: To properly protect children we need to be responsible grown ups and accept our failings so far

As I watched my son’s school performance of Oliver Twist, I wondered what its author would make of the plight of children in 21st Century Britain. If Sir Charles Dickens was to pen a similar novel today to raise awareness of contemporary child protection failures, what issue would he choose? Perhaps he would write about the grooming gangs scandal, where thousands – perhaps tens of thousands – of poor white girls have been systematically raped an…