Tackling Child Exploitation and Child sexual Exploitation
Child exploitation occurs when a male or female under the age of 18 is manipulated, coerced or controlled to undertake criminal or sexual activity to the benefit or gain of someone else. This may involve the person being trafficked.
Following the publication of the report of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Exploitation in Telford & Wrekin (IITCSE) significant progress has been made enhancing our multi-agency safeguarding arrangements to tackle child exploitation. We have retained child exploitation and child sexual exploitation as a priority because we need to ensure that these changes in practice are embedded and driving real changes in outcomes for victims and those at risk of exploitation. By retaining this as a priority we will ensure that this critical focus is retained. As child exploitation evolves, we need to ensure that our policy and practice evolves too.
Our approach to tackling child exploitation and child sexual exploitation is shaped by “contextual safeguarding”. Understanding contexts relevant to the daily lived experience of our children and young people is key to reducing the risk of exploitation and improving outcomes. As children grow, they invariably become involved in social networks, relationships and environments outside of their family network. The majority of children do this in a safe and fulfilling way. However, all children can encounter individuals who seek to exploit their vulnerability or environments that exposes them to risk of harm. These environments and relationships can often serve to undermine and disempower parents and carers in the lives of children.
This is a shared priority with the Safeguarding Children Board, and it will be driven through the Child Exploitation and Child Sexual Exploitation group reporting to the Safer Telford & Wrekin Partnership Board and the Safeguarding Children Board. It will work on four themes:
Theme | Example areas of planned intervention and action |
Understand and identify | To ensure that we have effective and well-established information sharing and risk assessment mechanisms in place to identify those at risk of or experiencing exploitation. |
Prevent | To prevent children and young people experiencing any risk of harm due to exploitation in the first place. |
Action and support | To work together across the partnership to provide support to exploited children, so they are helped, protected and listened to and that perpetrators are held to account for their action. |
Disrupt exploitation and bring to justice | To identify, disrupt and prosecute those who are intent in exploiting children. |