Resources: Review - The theory and reality of sexual exploitation

The specifics of tackling issues such as working with young men are particularly informative since this is an area that has previously been neglected.

More and more professionals contact agencies because they have concerns about the sexual behaviour of a young man they are working with. One chapter shows that gender-specific work is essential and that for too long the needs of young men have been ignored.

There has been a need within this field to convey the latest developments and to represent different approaches and conceptual views. A broad range of issues is captured recurrently in different contributions throughout the book. The need for multi-agency working is also echoed, with some contributors offering clear examples of how this works in their own area. However, in the field we know that in some areas a multi-agency forum either does not exist or lacks the commitment demonstrated in the book. While some areas operate a successful forum without dedicated funding, it is clear that resources have a considerable impact on the ability of services to deliver action plans.