Bradford still leads the country in the care of children drawn into prostitution, a national conference was hearing today.

The childcare charity Barnardo's has organised the conference, From Awareness to Action, Children Abused Through Prostitution, at the Barbican in London.

The aim of the day is to demand extra money from the Government to plough into services for vulnerable children.

Campaigners also want tougher guidelines imposed on social workers and the police to ensure that children caught up in prostitution are treated like sex abuse victims, not criminals.

The Bradford-based Streets and Lanes (SALS) Project works with youngsters who run away from home or local authority care and end up on the streets, or forced to work by pimps in squalid bedsits. ts pioneering work will be showcased to the conference by founder Sara Swann.

Other speakers from the Bradford area are Fiona Broadfoot, of Tyersal, Bradford, a former prostitute and anti-prostitution campaigner, and Dennis Williams, the district's Assistant Director of Education.

"Ours was the first project, in Bradford, but now Barnardo's has modelled similar services in Middlesbrough, Birmingham, Wolverhampton, Bristol and London," said Ms Swann.

"Bradford is still a leader in this field. We are also pioneers in that Bradford is the home of the Missing Person's Scheme which is an excellent preventative project - if we can catch young people early, that's critical.''

The charity was keen to put pressure on the Government to deliver its promised new guidelines that will compel all social services departments to actively crack down on the problem of child abuse through prostitution.

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