BOLTON SAFEGUARDING CHILDREN
BOARD
CHILD SEXUAL EXPLOITATION
SUMMIT
9 APRIL 2014
Welcome
Agenda and Aims
• CSE - Understanding the Issue
• What’s Bolton Been Doing?
• Project Phoenix – Greater Manchester
response to CSE
• Learning from Others – Themes from CSE
Reviews
• A Parents Perspective
• Voice of the Child – What Victims Tell Us
• Next Steps
• Close and Evaluation
CSE what are we talking about ?
Sexual exploitation of children and young
people under 18 involves exploitative
situations, contexts and relationships where
young people (or a third person or persons)
receive ‘something’ (e.g. food,
accommodation, drugs, alcohol, cigarettes,
affection, gifts, money) as a result of them
performing, and/or another or others
performing on them, sexual activities.
National Working Group for Sexually
Exploited Children and Young People (NWG) 2008
Reduce the
likelihood of
children and
young people
becoming
victims of child
sexual
exploitation
Target,
disrupt and
prosecute the
perpetrators
of child
sexual
exploitation
Ensure action is
taken to safeguard
children and young
people at risk of
sexual exploitation
Reduce The Likelihood Of Young
People Becoming Victims
• Dedicated web page
and resources
• Launched posters
and publicity midMarch aimed at
young people to
encourage them to
seek help
• Multi-agency
Guidance for CSE
How do we benefit from a dedicated team ?




Improved information on and disruption of :
Predatory adults
Bolton ‘hot spots’
Better partnership working : Licensing, Police, Voluntary
Sector Housing, Community Safety, Health, Youth
Services…
 Rapid, coordinated response to intelligence
 Shared culture of victim support and understanding of the
dynamics of CSE.
 Improved processes and systems
How do you tackle CSE?
How do you tackle CSE?
Understanding the Problem
Victim
Offender
Location
Recognised ‘Grooming’ Models
•
On Street – Older males invite into car, cigarettes, alcohol, drugs providedknown hotspots , Deane, Daubhill, Halliwell
•
Boyfriend - Young person groomed to believe older male boyfriend, therefore
allegiances with the abuser
•
Party - Young people encouraged to bring friends to ‘chill’, older males invited
•
Internet / Mobile - Tel no's of young people ‘shared’, vulnerable young
people contacted by Facebook
•
Lone Offender – Usually able to recognise and target vulnerable young
people. Often go on to groom friends of original victim.
•
Group Offender - Often groom other young people to recruit, may initiate
contact by on street grooming, via parks, taxi’s , take-aways, then taken to
hotels - in Bolton, Manchester
Returning from MFH
Well kempt / no address
Truanting at risky address
Unknown / risky others
Clothing unknown source
Older, sexual,
Friends of others
Known exploited
Calls / text from unknowns
Collected / dropped off by
unknown / risky adults
Seen in risky areas
Indicators to
raise your
Concern
New mobile phones
Goods unknown source
Evidence of swopping
Intimacy for accom /
goods
Older boyfriend /
friends
Adults loitering
School / home
Other YP report
risk
Technology & CSE
•
Massive growth of exploitation via social networking sites i.e. Facebook,
Bebo…
•
‘Sexting ’involves teenagers ( and in some cases even younger children)
sending sexually explicit pictures of themselves to boyfriends and or others,
using a mobile phone.
•
Given the often short lived nature of teenage relationships, these pictures can
be used against others by circulating or posting them on messaging sites
sometimes accompanied by a telephone number.
•
This can be used as a form of bullying and clearly once pictures are in the web
they remain around forever.
•
Recent research suggests that over a third of 11 to 18 year olds have received
sexually explicit material on their phones. Not all of these pictures will have
links to ‘sexting’ but some will.
How Can You Assist?
• Identification of HOT SPOT Areas
• Identification of potential offenders
• Identification of potential victims
• General Intelligence around known Hot Spots / Offenders / Victims.
• Taking positive action, inform the Phoenix-Exit Team.
• Becoming understanding and approachable
• Believing our victims
• Don’t make assumptions – Clarify – Ask Questions, believe no-one!
LEARNING FROM OTHERS
Themes from Child Sexual Exploitation
Reviews
Victim views
• Power of the perpetrator- All the victims
described in detail the control the perpetrators had over
every element of their lives including the threat and use
of violence – reason a number did not tell parents or
engage with services earlier. They were told they had
committed the crime
• Isolation- feeling trapped, felt when they did tell
nothing changed and the abuse continued
Risk factors
• ALL the children in the reviews displayed
some of the known risk factors
• Abuse of drugs and alcohol
• Missing from home
• Disengaged from education
• Sexual health concerns
• Challenging or offending behaviour
Key issues
• Many young people were engaged in what they
considered CONSENSUAL sexual activity despite the
fact that many DID not want sex with perpetrators but
coerced into sexual activity
• 16 and 17 year olds were often viewed as being more in
control of their own choices and not in need of
safeguarding responses
• Professionals readily reassured by parents of ability to
keep their children safe. Despite the risk being posed
outside of the family and parents frequently unaware of
or unable to prevent what was happening
Key Issues
• Lack of understanding of CSE risk factors from
most agencies
• CSE not a priority for LSCB
• Over-reliance on ‘ champions’ or specialist
projects
• Focus on single or ‘problematic’ behaviours of
the young person .i.e. sexual health, challenging
behaviour, drugs/alcohol
• Sharing of information poor- not joined up
Key issues cont’d
• Focus on young children following death of Baby P
• high workloads and difficult work environment
• lack of challenge by managers in relation to
assessments
• lack of staff training on CSE
• A view that extra familial sexual abuse was primarily
the role of the police
IDENTIFYING AND
ASSESSING CHILD
SEXUAL
EXPLOITATION
Identifying and dealing with
perpetrators
• Disclosure of underage sexual activity or sexual
exploitation needs to be taken seriously and dealt with
as a crime. Actions taken following disclosure should not
depend on the victim's willingness to act as a witness in
a criminal trial.
• Perpetrators need to be identified quickly and a case
built against them by the police. They need to be
prosecuted so that victims can feel safe, have trust in the
authorities and feel confident that agencies can protect
them.
• To reduce future exploitation, victim profiles should be
compiled and collated. This information can be used to
identify local 'hotspot' locations or methods that are used
to target potential victims.
Interventions
• Early help services
of paramount
importance- to
divert young
people from CSE
• Services need to
embed a childcentred approach
where children at
risk of exploitation
• Practitioners need
perseverance and
patience
• Practitioners need
to balance the
young person's
rights with the
need to protect
Stopping Perpetrators and
Securing Justice for CSE Victims
and Families
Tom Duffin
www.paceuk.info
0113 240 3040
“Child Sexual Exploitation” - >
“Stopping Perpetrators”
• Prevent / Protect / Prosecute
“Securing Justice” (moral rightness and fairness)
• Doing the right thing
• Listening / hearing / learning
• Beyond a good outcome at court
“Victims and their families”
• Focus on child
• Where do you join the journey?
• Recognise parents as valuable partners
Background
• National Parent Telephone Support
• Co-located Parent Support Workers
• Volunteer befriending scheme
• Parent networking days
• Bespoke training for practitioners
• Influence national and local policy
1. Lack of Info / Advice / Support
2. Impact on family
3. Actions of perpetrator
4. Agency responses
Partnership
Parents
police
officer
Head
Teacher
University
Professor
Businessman
NHS senior manager
Nurse
Health
Visitor
Health
Consultant Neuro-Surgeon
Visitor
Detective Inspector
Why involve Parents?
• Primary safeguarding role
• Expert knowledge
• Evidence / Intelligence
• Long term health & wellbeing
www.paceuk.info/keepthemsafe
0113 240 3040
THE VOICE OF THE CHILD
What Victims Tell us
Why children don’t tell
•
•
•
•
•
No perception of abuse
Loyalty to perpetrator
Denial
Sense of obligation
Fear and shame
Grooming -Setting the trap
• ‘ actions deliberately aimed at
establishing an emotional connection
and trust with a child or young person in
order to increase the likelihood of them
engaging in sexual behaviour or
exploitation…may also include threats or
bribes, which persuade the child/young
person that it would be impossible to ask
for help ‘
•
NSPCC- Caught in a trap the impact of grooming 2012
Surviving trauma
• In order to survive traumatic experiences. Behaviour
which appears contradictory and difficult to understand
may be exhibited by victims. This phenomenon can be
result in the victim experiencing positive feelings toward
the victimizer, negative feelings toward potential
rescuers, and an inability to engage in behaviours that
will assist in detachment or release.
• Other common responses include victimization, self
injurious and self harming behaviours and externalizing
the trauma by victimizing others.
Lodrick 2007
Putting Me Into Foster Care Is A Big
Thanks Because If I Was Living In
Bolton Now I Would Be Dead Now Or
Something Bad Would Have
Happened. I’ve Been Given The
Chance To Sort My Head Out, So I’m
Dead Happy Now.
’I regret not listening to
you all these years but I’ve
realised and I’ve had to
learn the hard way ‘
‘I Thought It Was
Normal. I Thought I
Was Having Fun.
They Opened My
Eyes To What Was
Happening.’
I do not know how I would
have got through the past
two years without your help
even though my daughter
does not always
understand you are all
working in her best
interests
they got to know us. Built that relationship and
um… obviously when we felt
we could trust them, we bring it out and told
them what is going on. It’s better than the
fact that “Oh. I just met you. Tell me what is
going on”. It was building that relationship
that
was nice
It’s Really
Exciting
He Will Come And
Get Me
Moving Forward
To be confident in our response to CSE we
• Continue to contribute to AGMA Phoenix
developments
• Continue to learn from national and local data
• Evidence improved use of disruption and
targeting of specific areas/individuals in Bolton
• Have close planning between criminal, child
protection, community cohesion professionals
Moving Forward
We need to :
• Make sure we use the updated CSE
Guidance
• Inspection ready as CSE is key line of
enquiry
• Evidence effectiveness and impact at local
and individual level
• Make sure CSE is EVERYONE’S
BUSINESS
THANK YOU