Tag Archives: children and young people

Forgotten children: child trafficking in the UK

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By Hollie Wilson

One of the biggest stories earlier this summer was the revelation by long-distance runner Sir Mo Farah that he was trafficked from his home in East Africa at the age of nine. In a BBC documentary, he revealed that he was taken from his family by an unknown woman and brought over to the UK.

Sir Mo’s story is sadly not a rare one. Every year, thousands of children and young people are trafficked to the UK, for a variety of reasons, including exploitation, forced marriage, domestic slavery, forced labour or crime. Earlier this year, a report from Every Child Protected Against Trafficking (ECPAT) noted that local authorities in England have a legal duty to safeguard and promote the welfare of children in their area, according to Section 17 and Section 22 of the Children Act 1989. Section 20 also imposes a duty on local authorities to provide accommodation for children in their area if the child is abandoned, lost or has no parental guardian.

Use of hotels by Home Office

A major issue facing children’s services with regard to child trafficking is finding adequate homes or places of care, particularly for the most vulnerable children. One of the main issues highlighted by the ECPAT report was the use of hotels by the Home Office to house unaccompanied children arriving to the UK. These hotels are outside of the English care system, and therefore increase the risk of these children suffering harm.

Immigration Minister Kevin Foster estimated that around 1606 children were being accommodated in hotels by the Home Office from July 2021 to June 2022. A response to the report found that 45 of those 1606 children went missing. This equals roughly four or five a month, and around one child going missing per week. Some of the children reported were as young as 11 years old.

The ECPAT report identified some of the main safeguarding details that have not been implemented by the Home Office. These include: getting details about the child’s background from before they came to the UK; information on why they have come to the UK; and evaluating the child’s vulnerability and risk of being trafficked. Addressing these could identify children in need, and prevent further exploitation or harm towards those at risk.

Support for survivors

For those who have survived child trafficking, the road to receiving sufficient and appropriate support is not easy. Some of the experiences reported include a young woman who was sexually exploited around the country as a child, yet was fined for being a “prostitute”. Even when she approached the police as an adult, the woman was not identified as a victim of trafficking. Another survivor was trafficked from the ages of 11 to 20, and despite being found by her youth worker numerous times in dangerous situations, was never identified as a victim of child trafficking and exploitation.

Even first responders have been found, in the instance of rescuing a child, to expect the child to declare themselves exploited, rather than using indicators and context clues to declare them so. A child will rarely have the understanding of what has happened to them at that moment, as many are groomed by their traffickers and don’t realise they were abused. This lack of understanding only increases when the child doesn’t understand English.

What has been done and what can be done?

Recommendations have been made for better collaboration and co-ordination between areas of Government. In addition, the NSPCC have argued for better support for children identified as trafficking victims, in order to tackle physical injuries (ill health, STIs or pregnancy from sexual violence), emotional issues (distress, feelings of shame and guilt) and potential lack of access to education or social and emotional development.

On 24 August 2022, the Home Office published news regarding the New Plan for Immigration. One of the changes highlighted is that “the transfer of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (UASC) from temporary hotels to long-term care will be sped up.” Minister Kevin Foster stated that councils will have five working days – rather than ten – to transfer UASC from hotel accommodation to care once a referral is made under the National Transfer Scheme. Councils will also receive an additional £2,000 per child per month for the first three months if they make the transfer within five working days.

Cases such as Sir Mo Farah shedding light on their own experiences can also have a significant impact on raising awareness. Anti-trafficking charity Unseen UK has reported a 20% increase in calls to their helpline following his documentary.

With its recent push into the spotlight, it is crucial that this issue not be left to fade into the background before real progress is made and all vulnerable children are cared for.

Photo by Japheth Mast on Unsplash.

Further reading: more from The Knowledge Exchange Blog on children and young people

“I’m treated as an individual, not a problem:” The “No Wrong Door” policy

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The “No Wrong Door” (NWD) programme means exactly that – there is no wrong door to turn to for young people seeking support.

NWD works on several core principles, which include working with young people’s birth family or guardians, allowing care leavers to “stay close” to continue accessing support, and working closely with young people to identify ways to help their self-esteem and give them opportunities. NWD has been introduced in several areas of the UK.

England

The term “No Wrong Door” was coined in North Yorkshire, where two hubs were created in Scarborough and Harrogate. The North Yorkshire County Council website provides details on the work their teams do.  

Each hub has a dedicated team which includes a life coach, a speech therapist, two community foster families and community supported lodging places for 16- and 17-year-olds with trained staff. On top of this, every young person in the NWD programme has their own key worker who is supported by another team. Many young people struggle when they are moved around as they grow up; new teams or workers don’t know their history or personality well. Having one consistent key worker for each young person makes it easier to build trust and create a more positive relationship.

Wales

A report from the Children’s Commissioner for Wales has described the steps taken by the Welsh Government to implement a ‘no wrong door’ approach to supporting children and young people. Funding has been earmarked specifically for children with complex needs, and all regions of Wales now have specific multi-agency groups for young people.

Regions like Cardiff and Vale have been implementing some of the common core principles of NWD, such as continuity of staff, key workers and streamlined appointments, in addition to a “proactive not reactive early intervention response.”

Scotland and Northern Ireland

NWD was introduced in Scotland by the Children and Young People’s Mental Health and Wellbeing Board (CYPMHW). In addition to building the original programme, it gave young people the opportunity to identify wellbeing priorities. These included having a job, a safe and warm place to live, food and clothes, good relationships, safety, feeling happy and confident, good health and opportunities to learn.  

There seems to be less evidence of NWD being implemented in Northern Ireland, although it has been proposed as a way to support children of parents with mental illness.

Impact

There has been a great amount of evidence that NWD is effective in helping young people. The Department for Education (DfE) published a report in 2017 which looked at the initial success of the “No Wrong Door Innovation Programme.” They found that for young people who were supported under NWD, there had been a decrease in arrests and incidents of them going missing, which indicates that giving young people more stable support systems leads to an overall higher level of happiness.

The report also found that under NWD, 25% of those who were not previously in education, employment or training went on to become engaged in education, training or work. 87% of young people who were using substances when they entered the NWD programme had also stopped when they were interviewed as a follow-up.

What can be improved?

There are a number of aspects under NWD that can be improved. A lack of long-term funding has meant that staff were not given the security of knowing if their contract was being extended. This meant many workers found permanent jobs elsewhere to ensure their own job security, and those who stayed were anxious about their future which impacted them negatively. It also had a negative effect on the young people under NWD if staff leaving was not handled appropriately.

On top of this, some young people had mixed feelings around their transition out of the support network. While many felt they were being supported efficiently, others described the transition as “abrupt” and “too fast.” This is definitely something that can be improved on with more training for staff and more structure in place for those who need more time when moving forward into the next stage of life.

Final thoughts

While NWD is by no means perfect, it has significantly given young people support during the most transitional period of their life, from adolescence to adulthood. Having key workers develop consistent relationships has allowed them to more strongly advocate for young people as they see them as more than just a case number. As stated by one young person in one of the studies, with NWD, “I’m treated as an individual, not a problem.”

As the programme evolves and more structure is put into place, there is hope that many more young people can be encouraged and given the platform to achieve their full potential.

Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash.

Further reading: more from The Knowledge Exchange Blog on children and young people

“For many children we are the first point of contact”: supporting children’s mental health in schools

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A 2018 evidence review from Public Health England reported that one in 10 young people have some form of diagnosable mental health condition. This, the report suggests, equates to as many as 850,000 children and young people with a diagnosable mental health disorder in the UK. It also reported that half of all mental health problems emerge before the age of 14, and children with persistent mental health problems face unequal chances in life.

Research has also highlighted the impact of “key factors” like poverty and adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), including emotional trauma, abuse or neglect (which people living in higher areas of deprivation are more likely to experience) on an individual’s chance of developing a mental illness. However, an additional factor often cited in surveys around child mental health and wellbeing is the impact of school, including exam stress, and bullying. Mental ill health has also been found to have an impact on attainment, behaviour and a child’s ability to learn. As a result, teachers are often part of the front line of supporting adults for children who are suffering from mental ill health, with increasing pressure being placed on teachers and schools to identify and signpost children to other services.

Schools, as well as teachers,  are increasingly becoming a focus for the delivery of Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) in their community. Often schools are at the centre of their local community, so it is logistically convenient to coordinate services there; it can for some be a less intimidating or stigmatising environment than attending a clinic at a GP surgery, for example. School is the primary developmental space that children encounter after their family, and children’s learning and development and their mental health are often interrelated, so it makes sense for teachers to take an interest in terms of attainment and progress in learning. In December 2017, the Department of Health and Department for Education (DfE) published the Green Paper Transforming children and young people’s mental health provision which highlighted the role of schools as key in promoting a positive message about mental health and wellbeing among school age children and young people.

Good work is already being done, but how can we do more?

Research has shown that there is already a lot of good and effective practice being done in schools around children’s mental health. Many schools already work in partnership with local health teams to provide in house CAMHS support in the form of mental health nurses and social workers who are posted on site for children to access. One of the major recommendations in a 2018 Audit Scotland report on child mental health in Scotland was to encourage more of this type of partnership working. The report stressed the importance of joint working between public services if child mental health is to be improved, and where possible to include as wide a spectrum of public services in the delivery of CAMHS support, including criminal justice and housing practitioners, as well as health and social care and education staff.

In some schools senior pupils and designated members of staff are being offered mental health first aid training, and wear lanyards to help students identify them should they ever need to talk to someone. While it is important – particularly for students who participate in mental health first aid programmes – to be made aware of the challenges the role may entail, it can be a rewarding experience for young people to participate in and can also be a vital in-road to support for some students who would otherwise feel uncomfortable talking to a member of staff.

Other programmes like those developed by the Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families, Centre for Mental Health and the ICE PACK and Kitbag tools (which have been used widely in UK schools) look at resilience building  and promoting coping mechanisms among young people, as well as encouraging the creation of trusting relationships which focus on nurturing and normalising mental illness to encourage children and young people to feel comfortable discussing their feelings and thoughts. These programmes also integrate early intervention and prevention approaches, hoping to identify children and young people who are suffering from mental illness as early as possible and signpost them to appropriate support.

The specific role of teachers

Teachers need to remember that they are not health or social care professionals and that – as much as they would like to completely solve all of the problems of their students – they can only do what they can, and that is enough.

It is also very important for teachers to practise what they preach in as much as teacher self-care is as important as signposting children and young people who are struggling with mental health issues. A 2016 survey by the National Union of Teachers (NUT) found almost half of teachers had sought help from their doctor for stress-related condition. Teacher stress and burnout and those leaving the profession due to conditions like stress do not help to create an environment that is supportive of good mental health in the classroom. Teacher wellbeing is so important and building their own resilience is one way that teachers can start to embed good mental health in their practice. If you are doing it yourself it will be easier to help and show children how to do it if they come to you for advice!

Teachers simply being there and offering a safe space and first point of contact for many children is important. Listening and signposting can be so valuable for those pupils taking the first step and teachers should not be put off by any personal perception of a lack of expertise in mental health – a small amount of knowledge or understanding of what to do next is more than enough. In some respects, teachers should feel almost privileged that a student has chosen to come to them, someone they feel they can trust and talk to.

A poll conducted as part of a webinar held for educational practitioners found that rather than requiring more information about mental illness, what teachers actually wanted was more practical examples of how to apply support in the classroom and how to embed mental health into their teaching and the learning of their students.

A unique opportunity

Schools and teachers are on the front line of public services and have a unique opportunity through regular contact with children to help to build and promote resilience among pupils, and embedding this within the whole school can be an effective way of ensuring pupils feel the benefit without being singled out. Taking nurturing approaches to learning and teaching, and promoting the creation of trusting relationships is key to some of the already effective practice going on in schools. Sharing the learning and best practice that is already happening will be vital to ensuring that support for children suffering from mental ill health improves and adapts to changing needs in the future.

If you liked this article, you may also be interested in reading:

Writing and recovery: creative writing as a response to mental ill health

Addressing social mobility through education – is it enough?

The Changing Room Initiative: tackling the stigma of poor mental health in men through sport

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