Child Criminal Exploitation and County Lines

The Home Office defines Child Criminal Exploitation (CCE) as:

Child Criminal Exploitation…occurs where an individual or group takes advantage of an imbalance of power to coerce, control, manipulate or deceive a child or young person under the age of 18 into any criminal activity (a) in exchange for something the victim needs or wants, and/or (b) for the financial or other advantage of the perpetrator or facilitator and/or (c) through violence or the threat of violence. The victim may have been criminally exploited even if the activity appears consensual.

Child Criminal Exploitation does not always involve physical contact; it can also occur through the use of technology. Criminal exploitation often happens alongside sexual or other forms of exploitation.

Child Criminal Exploitation is broader than just county lines and includes for instance children forced to work on cannabis farms, to commit theft, shoplift or pickpocket, or to threaten other young people.

County lines is a form of Child Criminal Exploitation. It is a term used to describe the activities of gangs and organised criminal networks who are involved in exporting illegal drugs into one or more importing areas (within the UK), using dedicated mobile phone lines or other forms of "deal line". These gangs exploit children and vulnerable adults to move (and store) drugs and money, and they will often use coercion, intimidation, violence (including sexual violence) and weapons (County lines: criminal exploitation of children and vulnerable adults). This activity can happen locally as well as across the UK; no specified distance of travel is required.

The adults running these networks remain at a distance from the frontline activity of drug dealing, reducing the risk of being caught and instead - they exploit vulnerable children who are at high risk of significant harm transporting and selling drugs, often many miles from home.

Children may be sent to another area of the country to live with a vulnerable adult whose home has been taken over by the gang in exchange for a continued supply of drugs. This is known as 'cuckooing'. These environments are extremely dangerous for children.

County lines activity is a dynamic and lucrative activity, and perpetrators will change their methods of exploitation quickly. As practitioners become more responsive to identifying children at risk, the criminals adapt their tactics. For example, a child who is exploited can leave their home or care placement in the morning, sell drugs and return the same day and so avoid being reported missing.

There are high levels of violence and intimidation linked to county lines activity. Children can be very quickly groomed into criminal activity, often before parents, carers or practitioners realise what is happening.

All criminally exploited children are at risk of neglect, emotional harm, sexual exploitation and abuse, as well as substance misuse and extreme forms of violence.

Any child or young person may be at risk of criminal exploitation, regardless of their family background or other circumstances, but children who are Looked After or who are excluded from mainstream education are at increased risk of being targeted.

Like other forms of abuse and exploitation, county lines exploitation:

• Can affect any child or young person (male or female) under the age of 18 years;
• Can still be exploitation even if the activity appears consensual;
• Can involve force and/or enticement-based methods of compliance (i.e. the receipt by the child of money / drugs or other goods) and is often accompanied by violence or threats of violence;
• Can be perpetrated by individuals or groups, males or females, and young people or adults; and
• Is typified by some form of power imbalance in favour of those perpetrating the exploitation. Whilst age may be the most obvious, this power imbalance can also be due to a range of other factors including gender, cognitive ability, physical strength, status, and access to economic or other resources.

Perpetrators are known to target vulnerable children and adults; some of the factors that heighten vulnerability include:

• Having prior experience of neglect, physical and/or sexual abuse;
• Being in care (particularly those living in Children's Homes and those with interrupted care histories);
• Social isolation or social difficulties;
• Connections with other people involved in gangs;
• Having a physical disability or learning disability;
• Having mental health or substance misuse issues;
• Being excluded from mainstream education, in particular attending a Pupil Referral Unit. It is important when schools are considering exclusions they also consider the safeguarding risks to the child.

It is thought that 14-17 years is the most common age for children to be exploited but there are reports of children below the age of 11 years being targeted.

Boys are most commonly identified as being criminally exploited, but girls are also used and exploited. It may be that girls are identified by safeguarding children agencies because of concerns other than criminal exploitation while also being criminally exploited.

Some of the main warning signs that a child or young person is involved in county lines or being exploited are listed below, with those at the top of particular concern:

• Persistently going missing from their school or the home and / or being found out-of-area;
• Noticeable changes in behaviour (these changes can be very rapid);
• Unexplained acquisition of money, clothes, or mobile phones;
• Excessive receipt of texts / phone calls and/or having multiple handsets;
• Relationships with controlling / older individuals or groups;
• Leaving the home  without explanation;
• Suspicion of physical assault / unexplained injuries;
• Carrying weapons / drugs;
• Significant decline in school results / performance;
• Gang association or isolation from peers or social networks;
• Self-harm or significant changes in emotional well-being;
• Domestic abuse within the family;
• Family involvement in sexual exploitation;
• Children of parents with a high level of vulnerabilities;
• (drug/alcohol problems, mental health etc);
• Children with substance misuse or mental health issues;
• History of physical abuse and emotional deprivation;
• History of child sexual abuse;
• History of being bullied in school;
• Recent bereavement or loss;
• Looked After Children in residential care;
• Children within the criminal justice service;
• Lacking friends from the same age group;
• Living in a gang neighbourhood;
• Gang association either through relatives, peers or intimate relationships (in cases of gang associated CSE only);
• Attending school with young people who are sexually exploited;
• Learning disabilities;
• Unsure about their sexual orientation or unable to disclose sexual orientation to their families;
• Friends with young people who are sexually exploited.

Staff will be aware that the following ‘risk indicators’ may suggest that a young person is at risk of exploitation.

• Periods of going missing overnight or longer;
• Association with older peers – Male & Female;
• Older boyfriend/girlfriend relationships;
• Physical/emotional abuse by boyfriend/controlling adult;
• Entering/leaving vehicles driven by unknown males;
• Unexplained amounts of money, expensive clothes or other items;
• Unexplained change in physical appearance;
• Multiple callers/visitors (unknown adults/older young people);
• Physical injury without plausible explanation;
• Repeat sexually-transmitted infections, pregnancy and terminations;
• Absent from school;
• Drug or alcohol use;
• Use of the internet that causes concern;
• More than one mobile phone;
• Self-harm;
• Thoughts of or attempts at suicide.

Where it is suspected that a young person may be subject to exploitive activity, further monitoring logs and a designated file with external agency communication /chronological log will be implemented to gather and record information, i.e. periods of absence/patterns of going missing, association with peers suspected of being involved in sexual exploitation, visitors to the Home, cars collecting/dropping off.

Monitoring of telephone calls/interception of mail/social media communications will only be undertaken in agreement with the young person’s social worker.

If there is suspicion that young people are involved in any form of exploitation together, or are being controlled by the same person the Home will request a joint agency meeting with external parties.

The Home / Deputy Manager will consider the information available to make immediate and appropriate strategies to safeguard the young person if there is suspicion of involvement in sexual exploitation.

Staff at the Home will ensure that every effort is made to dissuade the young person from leaving to engage in exploitation. They will offer sensitive and welcoming responses to young people returning to the Home after a period of absence. A return interview will be completed and every effort made to establish whom the young person has been with, in accordance with guidance Missing Young People (see Missing Children Procedure).

When concerns about criminal exploitation have been identified, the child's Placement Plan should contain details of the day to day arrangements which have been agreed between the home and the placing authority to keep the child safe.

Children's needs and safety must always come first. This means that staff working in the home should respond flexibly and continue to 'stay with the child', even when they are unwilling to engage. Relationships between children and their carers which are based on consistency, stability and respectful communication will help in supporting effective interventions with exploited children.

When a child presents with offending, or other concerning behaviour, staff need to be curious and compassionate and ask: What is happening in this child's life that is causing them to behave this way? What can we do to help them?

Children who have been criminally exploited are the victims of crime (although they may not initially see themselves as such).

All practitioners working with the child should consider the context of the child's behaviour as well as the impact (for example, trauma, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), mental health issues or substance misuse), to help determine an effective response. This is particularly relevant for children exploited through county lines activity.

Staff and managers should consider whether other children in the home may also be at risk (exploited children can be pressured to 'recruit' others). Any concerns should be shared with Children's Social Care and the allocated social workers.

For some children, a move to a different home may need to be considered. This should be discussed with the child, their parents / carers, the allocated social worker and the Independent Reviewing Officer.

For children who are leaving care, the Personal Adviser should be made aware of the concerns so that they can continue to offer support when the young person moves to independent or semi independent accommodation.

Where exploitation concerns have been identified, the Home will inform the young person’s allocated social worker of their concerns. This includes cases where the Home suspects that a young person living at the Home is acting as a coercer / perpetrator of exploitation.

A referral and action form will be submitted and contact log maintained. The Home / Deputy / On-Call Manager will be informed immediately.

The Social Worker must liaise with their Team Manager and IRO to discuss a strategy meeting or emergency review.

The attendees at the strategy meeting will be considered dependent on the circumstances; the young person, parents/and or significant others may not be deemed appropriate to be present at the whole meeting, however the meeting must consider what information to share and who should undertake this. Parents/carers should usually be notified of concerns regarding their children and what action is being considered to address these.

In cases where the social worker is not immediately available, a referral will be made to the Police and to the EDT as required; the Home will implement any immediately required safeguarding actions as directed by the LSCB and in line with our Safeguarding Policies. The Home /Deputy / On-Call Manager is responsible for ensuring the policy is followed and all parties informed including the Responsible Individual.

Where a young person is deemed to be at risk of immediate or significant harm the police and SEIU will be notified and safeguarding procedures will be followed without delay.

The Home / Deputy / On-Call Manager will ensure that Regulation 40 Notifications are submitted regarding all Child Protection concerns.

The Home will work closely with the young person’s social worker and external agencies to implement any safeguarding strategies deemed appropriate. The Home will ensure effective communication links are maintained to enable robust risk assessments to be reviewed.

A Positive Behaviour Support Plan is completed for every young person upon arrival at the Home. Should exploitation be identified as a risk, this will be detailed within the PBSP with preventative strategies and agreed with social worker/ parent/ carers as applicable.

The Home Manager completes a Placement Impact Matrix which considers individual children/ young people placed at the home and how their risks may impact each other. This is done upon admission of a new child/ young person and reviewed monthly.

All young people residing in the Home will be supported through key work sessions to raise the young person’s awareness of exploitation and the dangers of risk taking behaviours via sourced guidance and educational material assessed as appropriate to their individual characteristics.

The Home will consider the current individual risk assessments when introducing new young people to the Home.

The Home will ensure that for any young person where there have been or are current concerns about exploitation, the Pathway Plan and Staying Close Arrangements identifies their specific vulnerabilities to exploitation. The plan should also address factors known to impede successful recovery from exploitation (e.g. low income, Homelessness, lack of purposeful activity, lack of positive role models).

All concerns about possible exploitation will be made clear at meetings where the plans for a young person to leave the Home are discussed and will be clearly recorded, explaining risk factors, preventative measures, views of the young person and details of all agencies involved.

The Home/ Deputy Manager are responsible for monitoring and analysing the effective use of all interventions and risk-assessments. This includes electronic signatures on records or incident documentations.

The Home/ Deputy Manager is responsible for governing how this policy is implemented into their homes and be able to evidence compliance for any internal or external audits.

Staff have free access to all policies, they are held on Charms via the Tri-x link.

Policies should be read in conjunction with the homes risk register.

The Independent Visitor (Regulation 44) attends the home monthly to complete a comprehensive review of the home’s performance and completes a monthly report following their visit; which is shared with Ofsted and all relevant external parties.

The Home / Deputy Manager are responsible for completing bi-annual Quality of Care Reviews where interventions and incidents are considered in a thematic manner against outcomes and progress of the young people in placement.

Homes2Inspire hold a monthly operations governance whereby all incidents throughout the company are reviewed and analysed to identify trends and triggers and any practise concerns form staff, it also helps to identify any home which may need further support or training.

Legislation, Statutory Guidance and Government Non-Statutory Guidance

Protecting children from criminal exploitation, human trafficking and modern slavery (GOV.UK) - thematic report from Joint Inspections on the risk of child criminal exploitation.

Criminal exploitation of children and vulnerable adults: county lines (GOV.UK) - Guidance for frontline professionals on dealing with county lines, part of the government's approach to ending gang violence and exploitation.

Child exploitation disruption toolkit (The Home Office) - Disruption tactics for those working to safeguard children and young people under the age of 18 from sexual and criminal exploitation.

County lines exploitation: guidance for practitioners (Ministry of Justice) - Practice guidance for Youth Offending Teams and frontline practitioners.

County lines exploitation: practice guidance poster (Ministry of Justice) - Note: not all processes included may be applicable to your local area, so please refer to your local CCE Pathway as well.

Good Practice Guidance

Children and Young People Trafficked for the Purpose of Criminal Exploitation in Relation to County Lines a Toolkit For Professionals - (The Children's Society in partnership with Victim Support and the National Police Chiefs' Council) - a number of resources that may be useful for professionals when working with children and young people, their families and communities at risk of abuse and exploitation.