ANALYSIS: Sexual Exploitation - Look for the warning signs

Awareness of "early warning signs" by youth workers would go a long way towards preventing the sexual exploitation of teenagers.

This is the message from It's someone taking a part of you: A study of young women and sexual exploitation, released last week by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, Middlesex University, the National Children's Bureau and the NSPCC (YPN, 30 April-6 May, p2). But the fact that the youth service lacks a policy framework might hinder progress.

The report studied 55 girls aged 13 to 18 in two cities in England, who were frequent truants (see panel).

Sexual exploitation by older men was rife, with 22 of the girls claiming to have been raped. Many had older "boyfriends" who were "grooming" them for sex by using cars as an attraction, often targeting care homes and estates.