The Sexual Exploitation of
Young People
Streetwise
October 2013
Prepared by The Children’s Society,
Streetwise October 2013
Indicators of sexual
exploitation
• Relationships with an “older boyfriend” who
may be a coercer
• Going missing from home or care
• Change in friendships / disassociation with
established peer groups
• Possession of money without explanation
• Acquisition of clothing, mobile phone, other
gifts
• STI’s, bruising, suggestive of
physical/sexual assault
Types of sexual exploitation
• Inappropriate relationships
with older adults
• “boyfriend” model with older
man working alone
• Organised exploitation
involving groups or gangs
• As part of initiation into gangs
• Online exploitation
Remember
• Consent is no defence
• Victims can be perpetrators
too
• Child Sexual Exploitation is
NEVER a lifestyle choice.
• It’s a gender issue, but there
may be cultural over and
underlays
Running away and sexual
exploitation
• 2012 Child Sexual Exploitation Action Plan makes
a clear link between running away and a risk of
sexual exploitation
• Not all runaways are sexually exploited but
virtually all sexually exploited young people have
had episodes of running away
• In any one year it is thought that 100,000 young
people run away from home or care
Streetwise – the beginnings
• 2008 - Reunite work with young
runaways in Coventry
• Mapping and information
sharing increased our concerns
of young people at risk of CSE
• Hotel and flat parties, alcohol
and drugs were common
features
• April 2011, the Streetwise
Project was born
What do we do?
Mission
To raise awareness and deliver intensive support to
young people aged 11–18 years in Coventry who are
at risk of being sexually exploited
• Awareness raising sessions with at risk young people in
a range of settings
• 1:1 intensive support to individual young people
• Awareness raising sessions with frontline workers
• Work with the hotel trade locally and nationally
How do we do it?
• Persistent and regular contact – assertive
outreach, keeping young people engaged
• Being there and working at the young
person’s pace
• Non-judgemental – developing trust
• Curiosity, listening hard
How do we do it?
• Working in partnership with other agencies
– mini team, MASP, safeguarding,
community safety, police
• Constant intelligence gathering, mapping
and assessment
• Help young person to recognise
exploitation, make informed choices, assert
rights and break away from exploiters
• Encouraging disclosure and reporting to police
Outcomes Wheel
Protective
Behaviours
Consent
Sexual
Violence
Respect
Myths and
Stereotypes
Relationships
Safe use of
Social
Media
Grooming
Trafficking
Group work delivery
Recognising
danger
Challenges
• Funding only until April 2014
• Scarce resources - Streetwise has 2 parttime workers
• Austerity/cuts across all services and
working collaboratively – social care,
community safety, health, police, schools
• Cross border issues
Group work delivery
More Challenges
• Coventry CC scoping exercise 2012
identified 47 high risk young people, 35
medium and 91 low risk of CSE
• Hidden groups – boys, BAME young
people
• We are better at identifying CSE but still
struggle to know how best to intervene
The Future
• Merging Birmingham Runaways project
and Streetwise
• Operation Encompass – keeping young
people engaged
• More awareness raising
• Working with the leisure trade – Say
Something if You See Something
The Future
• Volunteer programme
• Training up other professionals to
deliver awareness raising sessions and
recognise CSE
• Improve our ability to recognize and
intervene with boys and young people
from BAME communities
• Tackling the underlying causes of CSE
Streetwise
The Children’s Society
St Peter’s Community Centre
Charles St
Coventry
CV1 5NP
Tel: 02476 520 111
Email: [email protected]
[email protected]