Delivering an effective local strategy to tackle child sexual exploitation

1. Delivering an effective local strategy to tackle child sexual exploitation Jeanie Lynch, South West Dr Caroline Paskell, Strategy Unit Barnardo’s

2. Child sexual exploitation • Child sexual exploitation is always abusive: • No child can consent to their own abuse • Government definition (first developed by NWG): • exploitative situations, contexts & relationships • people receive ‘something’ as a result of sexual activities performed by or on a child • those exploiting the child/young person have power over them by virtue of age, gender, intellect, physical strength and/or economic or other resources.

3. Barnardo’s CSE work Began in 1994: service, policy and research Organisational priority since 2011 Provision: 21 services using 4 ‘A’s Research: Improving responses Policy: National Action Plan + Campaign: Cut them free

4. Our CSE service-users 1,190 young people supported in 2010-11 All backgrounds represented – but additional vulnerability for those in care, who go missing who are excluded from school or who offend. Of our service users in 2010-11: 10% are male (25% in some services) 44% have gone missing 14% have been in care 1 in 6 had been trafficked

5. No one set of victims • 13 year-old girl forced into sex with many men having been groomed by network of older men • 15 year-old girl in an inappropriate relationship with her step-father’s friend • 16 year-old boy being exploited online through gay chat-rooms • 12 year-old girl being routinely abused in a local park by boys in their late teens • 17 year-old girl being exploited by her 26 year-old boyfriend to ‘exchange’ sex for drugs • 14 year-old boy coerced into sexual assault on a younger girl to validate his gang membership

6. How to respond? • Statutory guidance, 2009 • National action plan, 2011 • Step-by-step guide, 2012 • Barnardo’s/LGA, 2012 • Raise awareness • Assess the local picture • Develop a strategic response • Support victims • Facilitate policing and prosecutions • Multi-agency Child centred

7. Raise awareness It is important that all young people develop the knowledge and skills they need to make safe healthy choices about relationships and sexual health. This will help them to avoid situations that put them at risk of sexual exploitation and to know who to turn to if they need advice and support. … The need for information goes wider … to raise awareness of parents and professionals. (DfE 2011: National Action Plan) Children and young people It was very useful to learn how people do grooming so it will make us more vigilant. Hearing a real story shows that these things do happen. Parents and carers We use existing forums to spread our factsheet for parents and carers so more people know how to spot the signs and how to get support. Professionals We run day courses so practitioners can understand how young people become sexually exploited, why it is difficult to seek help or escape this type of abuse, and to learn more effective ways of working with them.

8. Assess the local picture Robust and reliable risk assessments by LSCBs of the nature and extent of child sexual exploitation in each area are fundamental to tackling the problem. … LSCBs and statutory agencies should always undertake risk assessments of the extent of the problem in their area. (DfE 2011) Assume there is risk Three months after improving agencies’ understanding of sexual exploitation, we had seen a five-fold increase in the number of young people identified as high risk. We ran a scoping exercise and found 50 young people at risk of sexual exploitation. Get started Collate data on incidence Assess trends Profile key risks Keep going The LSCB child sexual exploitation coordinator updates the LSCB about the local prevalence, scope and nature of child sexual exploitation.

9. Develop strategic response • LSCBs develop an effective local strategy ensuring there is co-ordinated multi-agency response to child sexual exploitation, based on a robust, thorough risk assessment of its local extent and nature. (DfE 2011) • Aims: prevention, identification, support and prosecution • Establish: scale of strategy and cross-border engagement • Core features: • Risk assessments • Referral system • Multi-agency meetings • Information-sharing • Co-ordination • Ensure: multi-agency action and child-centred approach • The involvement of different roles, experience and perspectives is essential if children and young people are to be effectively supported and action taken against perpetrators of sexual exploitation.

10. Support victims It is essential that there is an effective response from services when [it] is identified. … Victims need a helpful, swift, understanding, supportive response, coordinated across partners ... [and] need to be helped to understand how they will be helped now and in the future. (DfE 2011) Direct work The most successful organisational model is where specialist staff from a range of agencies work together in a dedicated multi-agency unit. … The LSCB commissioned a direct service for young people from [one charity], with the police funding a dedicated police officer as part of the team and [another charity] bringing its own funding to raise awareness. Indirect work Develop third-party support plan and monitor risk Safe accommodation Accommodation needs to be appropriate not necessarily secure

11. Facilitate policing and pros. Disruption techniques should be key to local strategies for responding to child sexual exploitation. … LSCBs should develop a disruption plan and establish relationships with other agencies to deliver it. (DfE 2011) While acting to protect a child … professionals should consider how to gather and preserve evidence to prosecute the perpetrators (DCSF ‘09) Disruption Disruption techniques can assist in reducing further abuse; e.g. child abduction notices, using automatic number plate recognition. Information-sharing Multi-agency information-sharing can better guide police action: Our operation against sexual exploitation set up a joint intelligence room so police, children’s services, probation and health could share their intelligence as it came in. Prosecution Comprehensive risk assessments and data monitoring can support

12. CTF: local authority call • Barnardo’s called English LAs to ask themselves: • What system is in place to monitor the number of young people at risk of sexual exploitation? • Does the Local Safeguarding Children’s Board have a strategy in place to tackle child sexual exploitation? • Is there a lead person with responsibility for coordinating a multi-agency response? • Are young people able to access specialist support for children at risk? • How are professionals in the area trained to spot the signs of child sexual exploitation?

13. PCC: policing call • Barnardo’s called prospective PCCs to commit to supporting police action on CSE by ensuring: • clear senior police responsibility for the issue • police officers with specialist knowledge of CSE • force-wide training on child sexual exploitation • strong local multi-agency links • strong cross-border police links • system to identify CSE on local police database • culture of support for young victims

14. What individuals can do • Get to know the signs of sexual exploitation • Share this information with your colleagues • Identify/develop procedures to refer concerns to local CSE lead or agency child protection lead • Think how to raise awareness of young people, parents/carers, colleagues or potential witnesses • Identify appropriate support for young people • Keep it in mind: maintain training, monitoring and referral systems and inter-agency approach

15. What to look out for • going missing for periods or regularly returning home late • regularly missing school or not taking part in education • appearing with unexplained gifts, money or possessions • associating with others people involved in exploitation • having older boyfriends or girlfriends • suffering from sexually transmitted infections (esp. repeat) • inappropriate sexualised behaviour • drug and alcohol misuse • Spot the Signs leaflets • - Young people Parents/carers Profs. Service sector • Download www.barnardos.org.uk/cutthemfree • Ordercampaigns@barnardos.org.uk

16. Any questions? Thank you!

17. Visit www.barnardos.org.uk/cutthemfree Contact: caroline.paskell@barnardos.org.uk rachael.courage@barnardos.org.uk