www.beds.ac.uk/research/iasr lessons learned – child sexual exploitation [email protected]

www.beds.ac.uk/research/iasr

Lessons learned – child sexual exploitation

[email protected]


Headlines last week

• practitioners did not take ‘positive action’• lack of understanding by practitioners of protocols and procedures• information not shared • systematic failures highlighted• need for an overhaul of working procedures, especially to identify victims and the risks they face


Recent cases including Operation Retriever

Derby Serious Case Review

What’s Going On to safeguard children and young people from sexual exploitation?


Research report• themed findings on the implementation of the 2009 government guidance• recommendations for action to improve implementation• signposting to resources• a self assessment checklist

A data monitoring tool A newsletter, What’s Going On?, to inform on research, policy and practice


LSCB coordinationit is not enough for one or two agencies to work hard “within their own sphere” Derby SCR BD09

• only a quarter of the country working to a current CSE protocol

• less than a third of the country has a sub group addressing CSE


Joint working

• not seen as an LSCB responsibility • not a priority • over-reliance on ‘champions’ or specialist projects • not recognising value of voluntary sector• struggling to draw in all relevant agencies• structures/procedures geared towards familial abuse• poor partnership working


LSCB coordinationPositive results

• implementing the guidance - specific protocol, driven by a multi-agency sub group

• involvement of senior managers from all relevant agencies […] coordinated via the LSCB

• roles and responsibilities of all agencies […] clearly set out and understood, in particular between voluntary and statutory agencies

• a mix of specialist workers in a co-located unit


Identifying child sexual exploitationuniversal services – health and education – missed early signs of concern; when I was at school they didn’t have a clue, nobody asked me what was wrong

little evidence of agencies working together to coordinate actions and create a comprehensive picture of [the young victims’] lives

the older they get the more complex issues become and the judgement about capacity [to consent] as they head towards being an adult, society tends to discard it: “ they chose to get in the car, its their fault”


Identifying child sexual exploitation

• less than half the country is raising awareness with young people

•even fewer with parents/carers

• training for practitioners is piecemeal and variable


Identifying child sexual exploitation• not recognising the ‘signs, or misreading the ‘signs’ - a failure to understand the impact of coercion by the abusers on their behaviour and to assess their capacity to make informed choices, particularly in older teenagers

• limited understanding of the patterns of exploitation - not recognising exploitation involving boys and young men, and young people in BME communities

The potential for poor outcomes increases significantly when intervention does not take place at an early stage


Identifying child sexual exploitationPositive results• raising awareness of how exploitation takes place• staff in all agencies need to be better trained and equipped to deal with CSE, covering risk indicators and consent issues• scoping the issues locally• linking CSE strategy with associated issues

missing from home/caregang violence

domestic abuse• co-locating specialist workers


Supporting young people and their parents

staff did not recognise the significance of their behaviour in terms of abuse and they were dealt with as ‘rebellious adolescents’

I feel that sometimes there’s an approach and if that doesn’t work it’s the young person’s fault. If you can’t get through one way, you need to be always looking for things that young people are going to latch on to

the most important thing is the relationship, the trust



• fewer than half of interviewees had an information sharing protocol

• only just over a third reported that a therapeutic intervention was available

• fewer than half reported that family support was available

• fewer than half reported that a health intervention was available



• child protection thresholds impede early intervention• focus is on younger children in the home• sexually exploited young people seen as ‘hard to reach ’• lack of specialist staff• family support not widely available; parents often excluded• difficulties with accessing services, especially CAMHS• a lack of ‘safe’ accommodation


Supporting and protecting young people and their parentsPositive results

early intervention to address known concerns• a child-centred approach• involving young people and parents in decision making• specialist workers delivering flexible and innovative

interventions• accessible to all, regardless of age, gender, ethnicity• a focus on ‘moving on’• a co-located service


Disrupting and prosecuting abusers

if the police come in like they do, rushing in with their attitudes, the girls won’t sit down and talk to them. But if they gave the girls a bit more time to help them then maybe they’d do a bit better

these girls have had the most horrendous time in court, it has been horrific, it’s abusive…nobody wants to tackle that



• fewer than half reported a police operation in the last year

• fewer than a quarter reported prosecutions in the last year



• reluctance of young people to disclose• confusion over information, intelligence and evidence• tension between investigation and safeguarding – the

implications of covert policing techniques were not fully understood

• need for more informed/earlier involvement of the CPS• lack of support for young people before, during

and after criminal proceedings• intolerable experiences for young victims in court



• identifying and tackling ‘hotspots’• training on how to report incidents • an agreed process for information sharing across agencies• a clear understanding of the roles and responsibilities of all agencies and the involvement of all agencies at the earliest possible stage • a consideration of resources needed • a comprehensive multi-agency contingency plan


Collecting and managing datathere is masses of information but no one has the time to record it. It needs managing properly and it needs an analyst

we have adopted the trial documentation as our local data collection tool but at present our numbers remain low […] we need to do more to raise awareness of signs and symptoms

it [data collection trial] has given us a lot of valuable information on child sexual exploitation


Collecting and managing data

• 1065 young people on one day were receiving support in England in relation to child sexual exploitation

• this represents responses from just 33 agencies in England



• over half of LSCBs surveyed did not record data

• fewer than half of interviewees reported that data was collected in their own agencies

• in only one interview area was data collected at both agency and LSCB level, using a shared database



• child sexual exploitation is not identified – so no data

• data held • not identified as relating to child sexual exploitation• in files, meeting notes and other records

• no collation, no analysis, no understanding of needs


Collecting and managing dataPositive resultsConsistent use of data monitoring tool, using data to:

• identify local needs and trends• to raise awareness• to make a case for resources locally• to target resources locally

Recs: • all LSCBs to use data monitoring tool • an annual national data collection (CEOP)


Recommendations

An over-arching conceptual shift in child protection

• recognise child sexual exploitation as a form of child abuse

• extend the remit of child protection so that the safeguarding needs of older children with multiple vulnerabilities are addressed


Local recommendations • LSCBs to implement the 2009 guidance

• All LSCB Chairs and Directors of Children’s Services to receive CSE training

• LSCBs to work towards having a co-located team • LSCBs to use self assessment checklist

• LSCB inspections to include progress on the dual aim of a child sexual exploitation strategy


National recommendations• all pre and post qualifying training for professionals working with young people to include child sexual exploitation

• an assessment of the availability and appropriateness of accommodation for children at risk of / who have experienced sexual exploitation

• a review of child friendly justice


What’s Going On to safeguard children and young people from sexual exploitation?

Full report available from www.beds.ac.uk/research/iasr

www.beds.ac.uk/research/iasr lessons learned – child sexual exploitation [email protected]

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