Complex Safeguarding Teams
There are Complex Safeguarding Teams based in both councils, Cumberland and Westmorland and Furness. The Complex Safeguarding Teams have Child Exploitation Intervention Workers (CEIW) who work with all types of child exploitation and missing.
Child Exploitation Intervention Workers (CEIW) are able to offer direct support to all children assessed with High or Medium Child Exploitation concerns and where
required children identified with a Low Child Exploitation status.
The CEIW will offer direct support to families, including siblings (when affected), carers, and the wider professional network working with the child. CEIW will not case hold the child's plan but work alongside case holders, supporting social workers and Early Help Leads.
CEIW's build working relationships with health, education providers, care homes and other contexts that children find themselves in, such as youth zones and clubs that they may attend. CEIW's will undertake Return Home Interviews for children open to Social Care and support the development of safety plans for missing.
Cumberland Complex Safeguarding Team have had staffing changes over the last six month so we thought it would be worthwhile doing a little overview of who we are and how to contact us. We are a team of seven and are made up of, a Team Manager, a Senior Child Exploitation Worker and five Child Exploitation Intervention Workers (CEIW). The CEIWs cover all of Cumberland but are based between Cumbria House and West Cumbria House.
The job is challenging at times but also very rewarding and I feel like we are making a difference in the lives of our children and young people. The two main parts of the role are to work directly with children and families that have been exploited or are being exploited or there’s strong evidence to suggest they might be being exploited. The other part of the role is to complete Return Home Interviews (RHI) with children after they have returned following being reported missing to the police.
Direct work can be a challenge as not all children want to work with us however, we don’t give up! We try to encourage the child to work with us and we are persistent with engaging with the child/young person.
Direct work is varied and can be completed in the child's home, in their school, on walks, in the car, or in their favourite place. We go with what the child wants to do which can also include activities like crazy golf or going to a farm. As a team, many of our most helpful chats with children are in the more informal and relaxed situations and this helps to get the children out and about.
We also work with families and placements to support their child and give advice and support on safeguarding. A great deal of exploitation is online, so supporting parents to have appropriate safety measures in place is very important and we can help with this.
The Return Home Interviews (RHI’s) can make things a bit hectic as these need to be completed within 72 hours of returning home, so fitting these in around direct work can be tricky but as a team we manage. One day we can be completing a RHI for a 10-year-old who was just playing out and didn’t want to go home, and the next day a RHI with a 16-year-old who has been missing overnight due to family issues and struggling with how to cope. The next day we could be trying to make contact with one of our regular children who is currently missing. This has happened several times and we have been able to locate them and return them home. This is hugely rewarding knowing they can turn to us without judgement, be collected, and returned home safely.
We attend children’s meetings and reviews, keep up to date with training and as a team we hold monthly meetings with our police colleagues, who we work closely with. We are a small team but work well together and support each other on those days that are challenging. It is a very busy and varied role which we like, you never know what is going happen, as no two days are ever the same!
On 28th May, Amanda Burrow, Complex Safeguarding Team Manager of Westmorland and Furness, attended the Action for Children, Jay Review of Criminally Exploited Children in Newcastle.
The report: Shattered lives, stolen futures: The Jay Review of Criminally Exploited Children was released on 21st March, highlighting the need for a national strategy for criminally exploited children. The day was made up of a welcome from the Chief executive of Action for Children, Paul Carberry and Professor Alexis Jay (CBE) who spoke about the report and the learning that was identified.
8 learning areas were identified in the report:
- The need for a clear and consistent definition of criminal exploitation, suggesting a possible definition.
- The current legislation and criminal process is not fit for purpose.
- To many exploited children are treated as criminals.
- Lack of data on exploitation makes it difficult to respond to.
- Education is a protective factor.
- Extra familial harm is not always recognised or effective in local safeguarding and Child Protection.
- Early intervention is essential.
- Lack of national leadership – need for a consistent strategy.
3 key areas were explored within breakout sessions:
- Local safeguarding partnership responses, including early intervention.
- National leadership and policy change.
- The criminal justice response to children who have been exploited.
Amanda was in group 3 looking at the criminal justice response to children who are being exploited. The discussion looked at how the laws differ in different parts of the United Kingdom and how this impacted on the statistics used in the report.
The number of child deaths linked to criminal exploitation from April 2022 to March 2023 is significantly lower in Scotland than in England and Wales, but the age in which children are classed as adults in Scotland is 16 rather than 18, so this would impact the data.
There is no law specifically for criminal exploitation and parts of other laws are used by the police to disrupt or criminalise perpetrators of child exploitation. Grooming children for criminal exploitation is not in any laws, there is only laws around grooming for sexual exploitation. There were discussions on the use of anti-social behavioural orders to disrupt exploitation. There continues to be a need to support children and young people impacted by exploitation and move away from criminalising where possible, which was evident from discussions.
The use of the National Referral Mechanism (NRM) and questions around how effective it is for children was discussed and how beneficial it is. However, it can be used as a defense mechanism for any criminal charges young people may face who have been exploited. There was further discussion for a need at a national level for a Child Protection response to exploitation, to recognise the impact of extra familial harm.
Whilst in some respects the Jay Report may bring more questions, the need for national leadership and policy change appears central. The afternoon was thought provoking and really interesting discussing with people from a wide range of services, with the aim of improving outcomes for children experiencing exploitation.
The key to addressing child exploitation with child and young people is building trusting relationships. Through these relationships we can make a real difference.
Taking the points for the Jay Report and sharing these amongst colleagues, other professionals, and parents we can hopefully raise the profile of child exploitation to drive forward positive change for our children and young people.
All professionals need to work together to decriminalise children and young people experiencing exploitation and develop a welfare approach within practice.
Further reading:
The Jay Review of Criminally Exploited Children | Action For Children
Protect children from crime gangs, expert urges - BBC News
Professional Curiosity
Professional curiosity is an important aspect of any safeguarding practice and is vital in the identification of exploitation. Children will rarely disclose that they are being abused or exploited. Having a professionally curious approach can help to explore the signs of exploitation so that safeguarding action can be taken. To be professionally curious is to not accept what you see at face value and involves taking a ‘respectfully uncertain’ approach, especially if something doesn’t feel right or ‘add up’.
For example, if a child is injured it is important that professionals think about the plausibility of the explanation given for the injury. How did the injury happen? What time of day did it occur? Does the explanation make sense for what you are seeing? Could something else be going on?
The Look, Listen, Ask, Checkout model can help professionals adopt a professionally curious approach.
Look – What are you seeing? Could this be a sign of exploitation? Consider unexplained injuries, repeated sexually transmitted infections, deterioration in emotional/mental health, missing from home/education/placement episodes.
Listen – Does the information shared sound right, or does it make you feel uneasy? Is the child alone or is there someone with them who could be influencing what they say ? Endeavour to speak to the child on their own and gently challenge anything that doesn’t make sense.
Ask – What questions can you ask to further explore what you are being told? Is the language that you are using accessible to the child you are speaking with? Are there any barriers to communication that need to be addressed?
Checkout – Who can you speak to verify the information you have been given by the child? Think about liaising with other agencies and professionals to build a picture of life for the child and to ‘fact check’ information you have been given.
Professional supervision with a colleague can help cast fresh eyes on a situation, can help identify any bias and challenge professionals to ‘think the unthinkable’ to identify and act on emerging concerns.
You can find more information of Professional Curiosity on the CSCP website here.
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Since Cumbria Police started hosting the Information Submission form on the CSCP website they have received over 250 Information Submission Forms, which have generated in excess of 250 separate intelligence strands about children, adults of concern and locations of note. This information contributes to understanding the current vulnerabilities for children at risk of exploitation and our understanding of the contextual safeguarding concerns which require targeted intervention in our communities.
The Information submission form can be located here.
To cover some FAQs and areas of note which have been discussed with practitioners recently, please see a summary below of useful guidance to consider when making these submissions: Multi-Agency Information Submission Form - Guidance
When making a submission, consider the following:
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Is it non-urgent? If it is information that needs to be shared urgently please consider making a referral into the Safeguarding Hub and/or calling 101*
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Does it contain information about a crime which has been committed? If it does, then this needs to be called in to Police on 101 so they can task out resource for the victim to be spoken to*
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Is it for the purpose of identifying and managing risk in relation to child exploitation? Only information around contextual safeguarding concerns specific to CE should be submitted on this form*
- Is it about child criminal exploitation, child sexual exploitation, drugs, county lines, locations of concern, adults of concern or modern-day slavery?
If the child you are making the submission about has an existing CE Pathway, please ensure this information is also shared with the lead practitioner who has oversight of the CE Pathway i.e. the child’s social worker or Early Help lead, in addition to submitting the form.
If the child you are making the submission about does not have an existing CE Pathway, please consider the information you are submitting in the context of Child Exploitation and Contextual Safeguarding – If the information you have requires exploration by the Complex Safeguarding Team Manager, please consider making a referral into the Safeguarding Hub. For further guidance see: CERAR (genially.com)
If the information you have does not warrant a safeguarding referral at this time, but would develop the picture around current identified vulnerabilities for this child, please complete the Multi Agency Partner Information Submission Form
This information should be shared with the adult who has responsibility for this child if it is safe and appropriate to do so.
The police mailbox the multi agency partner information submission forms goes to is not monitored at evenings or weekends, so please do not submit any immediate safeguarding concerns or crimes using this intelligence submission form.
If you submit information where a victim of a crime is identified, you will be asked to either go back to the person who the information relates to (or their appropriate adult) and ask them to report this OR report this information yourself.
Please advise the victim that Police will only want to speak to them to offer them the opportunity to discuss the offence that has been disclosed, and they are under no obligation to pursue it beyond the crime being recorded. All Crimes must be recorded by Police by contacting 101.
We understand that identifying crimes is not always easy for non-police practitioners, and we are happy to provide guidance. If you receive communication advising you to report your information to 101, it is because the Police have identified a crime in your information submission.
If you require any guidance around where you should submit information you hold about a child where there is a child exploitation concern, please contact the CE Coordinator emma.scott@cumbria.police.uk
Please do not send urgent enquiries to the Multi Agency Submission Information mailbox Please telephone 0300 124 0113, ext 44528.
You can also contact the METCO PC who covers your area or contact 101 to speak to an officer who will be able to help you with your enquiry.
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