Moving forward together

The report describes how parents felt unsupported or even blamed and that the help they did receive did not show the required understanding of the exploitation that their child became trapped in.

We now know far more about child sexual exploitation (CSE) and we are dealing with risk that could not have been imagined even a few years go - checks on progress like PACE’s research show just how crucial it is to have young people, parents and carers being a driving force in this development.

Our understanding of CSE continues to evolve in areas such as online exploitation or appreciating a young person’s ‘digital world’. We are now extending our contextual safeguarding practice models to better support and protect adolescents and promote safeguarding outside of the family home; work that has been supported by Research in Practice. However, going back to the importance of acting on the experiences of parents, carers and young people and putting this at the centre of developing and leading responses, “co-production” in this area is not making the effective progress it should. It is essential that safeguarding is informed by what families say work, but it is one of the most complex and difficult areas to achieve this. It’s complex because we must listen to and involve the family but also extend this further to the neighbourhood and local community. It is also up to us to remain at the forefront of the national debate and challenge the cultural, moral and social issues that are at the heart of abuse and exploitation, including the role of social media in normalising these behaviours. A public awareness campaign promoted with the same intensity and urgency as campaigns against racism and homophobia is urgently needed.