Child criminal exploitation policy and practice

Overview

The criminal exploitation of children is commonly associated with ‘county lines exploitation’ where children are used to deal drugs across geographical areas. However, there is increasing recognition of other forms of exploitation including ‘blurred lines’, where existing groups mimic county lines to retain control over their areas, and ‘intra-familial exploitation’ where children are manipulated, deceived or coerced into criminality by their relatives (Maxwell and Wallace, 2021).

Exploiters often use emotional manipulation, trust building, debt bondage, gifts, and perceived care to draw children into exploitative relationships. These dynamics can entrap children in cycles of criminal activity such as drug dealing or theft (Olson et al., 2023). The long-term social, emotional and legal consequences for affected children underline the need for effective and coordinated policy and practice responses (Whittaker et al., 2018; Jay, 2014).

About the study

The study was commissioned by Action for Children to explore professional perspectives about policy and practice relating to the criminal exploitation of children in Wales. The examined how current guidance is understood and applied across different agencies, and what is needed to enhance more consistent and effective responses.

Our Paths, Our Voices

As part of this project, we worked with young people and professionals to co-produce Our Paths, Our Voices – a short film exploring responses to the criminal exploitation of children.

The idea for the film emerged from discussions with multi-agency professionals who took part in the research. While the findings highlighted important challenges and opportunities for improvement, we wanted the film to reflect these issues from the perspective of young people with lived experience.

We are extremely grateful to the young people who shared their experiences and helped shape the film, as well as the professionals who spoke openly about what is working well and where services could do better.

The film provides an authentic account of current service provision for children affected by criminal exploitation and is intended to support reflection, discussion and learning across agencies. We hope professionals watch it alongside their multi-agency partners and use it as a starting point for conversations about how services can work together to improve support for children and young people.

Share your feedback

If you have watched Our Paths, Our Voices, we would be grateful if you could take 2–3 minutes to complete our short feedback survey.

Your feedback will help us understand the film’s impact on knowledge, practice and multi-agency working, as well as inform future work with children and young people affected by criminal exploitation.

Responses can be submitted anonymously, and your details will only be collected if you choose to provide them.

Activities and Methods

Data collection was undertaken between January and October 2024 and involved three phases:

1. Focus groups with 51 frontline professionals across two Welsh local authorities (north and south), including representatives from  education, children’s services, health, housing, police, third-sector organisations, youth justice and youth work.
2. A Wales-wide survey completed by 115 professionals from 17 of the 22 local authorities. Most respondents were from children’s services followed by education, police and youth justice services, with fewer from health, housing, the third sector and youth work.

Co-production groups with 22 professionals from the two local authorities representing the same eight sectors to develop shared interpretations of the findings and identify priorities for change.

Findings

Current policy and practice guidance

• Existing guidance was described as extensive but difficult to navigate.
• Professionals emphasised the need for guidance that reflects the diverse and evolving nature of exploitation across different contexts.

A shared definition

• There was strong support for a statutory definition of child criminal exploitation.
• Many participants felt it should be formally recognised as a form of child abuse.
• A  clear definition was viewed as essential to support consistent safeguarding responses.
• Some professionals called for legal reform, including a specific offence for grooming into criminal exploitation and enforcement of child abduction notices, with breaches constituting a standalone court-enforceable offence.

Multi-agency working

• Multi-agency working is challenged by the absence of standardised systems for information sharing.
• Participants highlighted inconsistent interpretations of data protection requirements (including GDPR) as a a barrier to effective collaboration.
• Workforce pressures and limited resources were identified as constraints, including vacancies and a lack of safe places for children to spend their leisure time.

Post-18 provision

• Fewer professionals felt confident supporting young people over the age of 18 affected by exploitation.
• Age-based thresholds were widely viewed as limiting, particularly where development needs do no align with chronological age.
• Irrespective of age, service thresholds emerged as inappropriate for child criminal exploitation.
• Participants described young people as falling between services because they did not meet service thresholds or did not fit service criteria.

Gaps in provision, including housing for care-experienced young people, were seen to increase vulnerability to exploitation or re-exploitation.

Recommendations

Co-production groups identified the following priorities:

1. Develop a clear legal definition of child criminal exploitation, explicitly recognising it as a form of child abuse.
2. Ensure early intervention support for children at risk of exploitation.
3. Provide specialist crisis support in all areas.
4. Ensure access to ongoing support to prevent re-exploitation.
5. Strengthen multi-agency accountability and coordination.
6. Establish clear information-sharing protocols across and between regions.
7. Introduce mandatory training for frontline professionals on child criminal exploitation.

Additional priorities included:
• Raising awareness to support early identification and prevention
• Improving referrals and screening processes
• Clarifying roles and responsibilities across agencies

Co-produced resource: ‘Our paths, our views’
To address these needs, the film ‘Our paths, our voices’ was co-designed with young people and professionals with direct experience of criminal exploitation. The film is intended as a resource for multi-agency professionals to support awareness, reflection and practice development.