Child Sexual Exploitation
Current research reveals that there are at least 3,000 children being sexually exploited in the UK. These vulnerable young people are being coerced and manipulated into sexual activity- either receiving money, drugs or accommodation in exchange for sex, or being exploited in more ‘formal’ prostitution. The future is bleak for these young people. Without help, many will become involved in adult sex work, drugs and crime.
The vulnerabilities of sexually exploited young people are too complex to be met by one single agency and that’s why we work in partnership with other agencies such as Children’s Services, health, education and the police. This collaborative approach ensures all the complex needs of young people are met.
Barnardo’s is committed to developing evidence based practice, linked to research and evaluation. This has enabled us to develop a model across all our specialist sexual exploitation services- proven to achieve results.
We have introduced a robust outcomes monitoring framework, so that all our services can accurately demonstrate the effectiveness of their work on a year by year basis, while three monthly assessments inform case planning and enables us to evidence the reduction in risk over the periods of intervention.
We work in partnership with commissioning agencies to raise awareness of the key issues and deliver on Every Child Matters Targets.
Barnardo’s North West’s sexual exploitation services can:
- reduce the risk of abuse
- reduce the number of ‘missing’ young people
- achieve positive outcomes for children with substance misuse and emotional wellbeing issues
- improve safeguarding outcomes
- reduce the number of children entering the care system
- improve outcomes for looked after children.
