Croydon Safeguarding Children Partnership Child Exploitation - Criminal Exploitation, Sexual Exploitation & Missing Children - Croydon Safeguarding Children Partnership

Contents

Child Exploitation
Safeguarding Children at Child Sexual Exploitation Procedures and Practice Guidance
County Lines
CSE Principles – The ALEXI Project with University of Bedfordshire
Missing Children
‘See Us, Hear Us, Help Us’
Runaway Helpline
Child Trafficking

Child Exploitation

Child Exploitation can come in different forms and often affects older children and young people.

Child Criminal Exploitation (CCE) – may involve in-Borough drug dealing, storing weapons or drugs for others, performing sexual acts on others under coercion, committing offences under coercion and county lines drug trafficking.
Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE) – may involve sexual exploitation through digital and social media, or through groups or gangs, older boyfriend or girlfriend or peers

If you consider a child or young person to be a risk a referral to the Single Point of Contact (SPoC) should be made.

In order to help you identify the level and area of risk use the Croydon Child Exploitation Screening Tool. Download and complete this form and include it in your referral to SPoC.

Child Exploitation Screening Tool (MACE Screening Tool)

Safeguarding Children at Child Sexual Exploitation Procedures and Practice Guidance

Child Exploitation process (Mace & CAP)

CSE London Operating Protocol June 2017

London Board Practice Guidance Safeguarding Children at Risk of CSE (January 2016)

It is important the when talking to young people who are being exploited or at risk of being exploited, that the right language is used. Use this guidance to help you – CSE Appropriate Language

For further resources, toolkits, guidance and research on preventing and responding to the exploitation of young people, take a look at the CSE Police and Prevention website

County Lines

County lines is a police term for urban gangs supplying drugs to suburban areas and market and coastal towns using dedicated mobile phone lines or ‘deal lines’. It involves child criminal exploitation (CCE) as gangs use children and vulnerable people to move drugs and money.

This guidance is primary aimed at front line staff who work with children, young people and potentially young adults.

Criminal Exploitation of children and vulnerable adults

CSE Principles – The ALEXI Project with University of Bedfordshire

The participation strand of the Alexi Project included focus groups with young people in different Hub and Spoke projects, asking them about their experiences of CSE services. Working with a Young Researcher’s Advisory Panel, the project synthesized the messages into 10 principles for working with young people affected by CSE. The artist Una was then commissioned to illustrate the principles and have turned these principles into 10 postcards, that can be shared online and in print form with professionals.

Open the postcards in pdf here

Missing Children

CPCs – guidance for professionals – July 2018

DfE statutory guidance on children who run away or go missing from home or care

Effective Responses to children missing from home, school or care is an Ofsted Learning From Inspections Report following the inspection of several Local Authorities including Croydon. Published in 2016 it provides examples of challenge and good practice.

‘See Us, Hear Us, Help Us’

A specially-commissioned film ‘See Us, Hear Us, Help Us’ featuring a local young person talking about her own experiences of sexual exploitation was shown for the first time at the Croydon Congress Meeting on 26 November 2015. The film commissioned by Croydon Council portrays the devastating impact that this issue has on people’s lives.

At the Croydon Congress delegates were asked to support the ‘Say Something if you See Something’ Campaign jointly run by Croydon Council, the Metropolitan Police and the London Safeguarding Children Board. Speakers called on professionals and members of the community to work together to raise awareness and stop child sexual exploitation. Delegates made pledges on behalf of their organisations as to what steps they planned to take. This included:

Taxi firms committing to train staff to look for warning signs
Taxis displaying helpline numbers
Head teachers including exploitation in the sex education curriculum
Charities to promote their services
Young people will look out for signs of their friends being exploited
Young people to support friends if they see a problem.

The discussions and recommendations put forward at the Croydon Congress have formed the basis of a follow up report which was presented to Croydon’s Cabinet on 22 February 2016.