A CHILDREN’S charity is calling for a change in the law after it was revealed a legal loophole leaves thousands of teenagers across the North-East vulnerable to cruelty and exploitation.

The Children’s Society is calling for the change in a bid to protect more than 2,000 vulnerable teenagers in the region as the current law makes it impossible to prosecute adults for neglect or ill-treatment of 16 and 17 year olds.

Research from a Children in Need Census revealed that 2,395 of the region’s children aged 16 and 17 were deemed by social services to be “in need” and therefore at greater risk of abuse and neglect.

This included 328 in Durham, 298 in Sunderland and 158 in Stockton-on-Tees while there were also 52 in Darlington, 119 in Hartlepool, 231 in North Yorkshire and 104 in York.

While most English law treats anyone under 18 as a child, the criminal law for child cruelty only protects children from neglect or ill-treatment until their 16th birthday.

It means children aged 16 and 17 are treated as adults which the charity says makes it harder for police to prosecute a negligent or abusive parent or guardian of a child in that age group.

The charity also says it sends a message that the youngsters do not require the same protection as younger children, with teenagers in the age range who experience neglect at home are often failing to receive adequate protection from professionals because they are mistakenly believed to be more resilient and able to cope with stress.

The society is now asking MPs to close the loophole by extending protections against child cruelty to the age group when it debates the Serious Crime Bill on January 5, 2015.

The move would involve changing the Children and Young Persons Act 1933 to increase the age at which a child can be a victim of cruelty from 15 to 17, to bring criminal law in line with the rest of child protection legislation and welfare legislation for the first time.

Matthew Reed, chief executive of The Children’s Society, said: “It is nonsensical and unacceptable that adults cannot be prosecuted for behaviour against children aged 16 or 17 that would be considered cruelty if the victim was 15.

“If MPs are serious about stopping child cruelty – including child sexual exploitation – they must act to close this legal loophole when it is debated in Parliament in the New Year.”