SCOTLAND'S children's tsar has laid out a three-pronged approach aimed at preventing sexual abuse in youth sport.

Child protection experts are also calling for greater vigilance and awareness following the revelations about historical sexual abuse that have rocked football.

Tam Bailey, Children and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland, said the latest abuse scandal means it’s time for an underlying change in our attitudes to children.

And he called for measures which would help combat abuse, advising that we should:

•Extend the existing disclosure system that checks whether employees who work with children have a criminal record to include an ongoing vetting of the behaviour of adults around children;

•Make sure parents are alert to any signs of favouritism or spending time alone with the coach, and of any changes in a child’s behaviour;

•Reassure children they will be believed if they report abuse and make sure they know they can go to a trusted adult.

“We need to get the message out to children and parents that we are a society that takes its children seriously and respects their rights,” he said.

Young people taking part in football were particularly vulnerable to abuse, he added. “In these sporting situations, you have youngsters who dream of becoming a top sportsperson and coaches who hold the key to their dreams, which makes for a powerful imbalance.

“Coaches also have the opportunity to have unsupervised access to children. It’s a situation ripe for predators to exploit, as they are tenacious, clever and adept at gaining the trust of the adults around children. We must be extra vigilant in these situations.”

And this includes a plea for parents to be on the lookout for any worrying signs in their children, including changes of behaviour.

The advice comes as Scottish police investigate reports of people claiming they were sexually abused as young footballers paid tribute to victims for having the courage to come forward.

Detective Chief Superintendent Lesley Boal, Police Scotland’s lead for Public Protection, said: “I would like to thank and pay tribute to the courage of everyone who has contacted both us and the NSPCC with information about people who may have abused children in the past and who may pose a risk to children.

“Speaking out about any form of child abuse is incredibly difficult, and disclosures are often made many years after an incident took place."

Janine Rennie, chief executive of Open Secret, which offers support to adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse, is calling for a public awareness campaign about child sex abuse.

“Sexual abuse in sports clubs is something we have come across frequently. There are many fantastic sports coaches but sadly there will always be others who abuse and it is impossible to tell which is which, as child abusers are skilled at grooming children and parents to gain trust.

“We want to encourage our children into sport and don’t want to think it could be a frightening environment for them, but it’s important for parents to be aware and talk to their children about abuse.

“We need a campaign about child abuse in Scotland with the same attention paid to it as there is to rape and domestic abuse.”

sportscotland has set out child protection measures that sports organisations must follow. A spokesperson said: “sportscotland invests £125,000 per annum through[children's charity] Children 1st to educate, train, and support Scottish Governing Bodies (SGBs) for sports and ensure they have rigorous child safety procedures and policies which are reviewed regularly. Our Minimum Operating Requirements for child protection are consistent across the governing bodies. All qualified coaches involved in delivering youth coaching registered with the governing bodies are subjected to checks through the PVG scheme. And any clubs using local authority or leisure trust facilities must be compliant with their local child protection safety procedures and policies.

“In light of the horrific allegations of historic abuse in English youth football, sportscotland and Children 1st’s Safeguarding in Sport team have provided further clarification and guidance for SGBs, clubs, and other partners in Scotland advising how to respond to allegations of historic abuse.”

Alison Todd, Chief Executive of Children 1st, said: “Sport can be an incredibly positive experience for children and the majority of adults involved in delivering sport are there with good intentions.

“Today sports bodies are much more aware of child sexual abuse and in Scotland, Children 1st continues to work closely with governing bodies of sport to ensure child welfare remains high up their agenda.

“But, sadly, it remains true that children continue to be abused today and that those who want to abuse children continue to seek positions of power and trust.

“Parents and carers should familiarise themselves with the child protection processes in place in the clubs their children attend and ask questions if they have concerns. And we all need to keep an eye out for signs that something might be wrong and encourage children to speak to a trusted adult about anything that worries them.

“We also need to urgently reform our justice and care system so that when a child speaks out about abuse, justice is done and children get the support they need to recover and move on with their lives.”

An SFA spokesman said: “Within the Scottish FA, we carry out PVG (Protected Vulnerable Group scheme) and other safeguarding checks for coaches working with U-18 players within our national and regional squads, performance schools and various programmes run with the regional and local authority areas.

“For each of our 88 member clubs where they have youth football teams or form part of Club Academy Scotland, they are individually registered with Disclosure Scotland or Volunteer Scotland Disclosure Services to carry out PVG checks.

“The member clubs go through annual Scottish FA club licensing audits where an area of this addresses their practice and compliance with the Protection of Vulnerable Groups (Scotland) Act 2007 legal duties.

“Each of our affiliated associations where children and young people are participating in youth football (Scottish Youth Football Association, Scottish Schools Football Association and Scottish Women’s Football) are individually registered with Disclosure Scotland or Volunteer Scotland Disclosure Services. They carry out checks on behalf of their activities at a national level and also support their member and affiliated clubs with PVG checks.”