'Schools and social workers should pay more attention to clear early warning signs that teenagers are being groomed for prostitution and sexual abuse, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation said last night.
Its researchers interviewed 55 teenagers who were selling sex or at risk of going into prostitution. They found all had been regular truants and most were in care, with nearly all having run away from home or care at some time.
Thirty of the 55 used heroin at least weekly and 22 had been raped. All but eight had suffered physical or sexual abuse within the family, and 18 had attempted suicide.'